Insane In Ireland Research Articles

"Dyspepsia," "seduction" and "violent hysteria": reports, reforms and the Irish asylums of the 1850s.

While many countries developed asylums for the mentally ill during the nineteenth century, Ireland's asylum system grew faster than those elsewhere, was larger in size and was slower to decline. This paper focuses on two reports central to this process in the 1850s: the 1854 "Report on the status of disease" and the 1858 "Report of the commissioners of inquiry into the state of the lunatic asylums and other institutions for the custody and treatment of the insane in Ireland." In 1854, the "Report on the status of disease," based on the 1851 census, was published, co-authored by Dr. William Wilde, now best known as father of Oscar. Wilde, however, was also a prominent surgeon and author of works on medicine, archaeology and folklore. He was knighted in 1864 owing in large part to his work on the census, which highlighted an apparently high rate of mental illness with such diverse causes as "dyspepsia," "seduction" and "violent hysteria." Four years later, in 1858, the "Report of the commissioners of inquiry into the state of the lunatic asylums and other institutions for the custody and treatment of the insane in Ireland" added fuel to the fire by reporting that "the lunatic asylums of Ireland wear more the aspect of places merely for the secure detention of lunatics than of curative hospitals for the insane." Reform, it seemed, was urgently needed. This contribution examines these two key reports in the fevered, panicked context of Ireland's perpetual reform and expansion of its nineteenth-century asylums.

Mental Health Law in Ireland, 1821 to 1902: Dealing with "the Increase of Insanity in Ireland"

Mental Health Law in Ireland, 1821 to 1902: Dealing with "the Increase of Insanity in Ireland"

Mental Health Law in Ireland, 1821 to 1902: Dealing with “the Increase of Insanity in Ireland”

Mental Health Law in Ireland, 1821 to 1902: Dealing with “the Increase of Insanity in Ireland”

Book Review: Fools & Mad – a History of the Insane in Ireland

Book Review: Fools & Mad – a History of the Insane in Ireland

Fools and mad: a history of the insane in Ireland. By Joseph Robins. pp viii, 256, Dublin: Institute of Public Administration. 1986. IR£14.95.

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A note on the causation of insanity in Ireland

A note on the causation of insanity in Ireland

A note on the causation of insanity in Ireland

A note on the causation of insanity in Ireland

Care of the Chronic Insane in Ireland

Care of the Chronic Insane in Ireland

The Sligo Cruelty Case

Those who have had much to do with the rapidly increasing and rising class of politicians, may be disposed to echo with a slight alteration the words of the Latin poet, which Tom Ingoldsby was so fond of, “politicum si dixeris omnia dixisti;” but we are at present inclined to look at things in another way, and to entertain a real regard for the Irish politician. For a long time we could not understand why many of the most prominent of the Irish political leaders have expressed a strong desire to make the care of the insane in Ireland a national charge, and to place their management entirely in the hands of the Government. We did not see why a scheme should find favour so much at variance with modern democratic notions of Local Government. We believe we understand it now, that is, if anybody can understand anything Irish.

Insanity in Ireland

Insanity in Ireland

Insanity in Ireland

Insanity in Ireland

Inlfuenza as m factor in the increase of insanity in Ireland

Inlfuenza as m factor in the increase of insanity in Ireland

On the Alleged Increase of Insanity in Ireland

The question of the increase of insanity in Ireland is, of course, but a part of the much larger question, the increase of insanity generally, all the world over. But there is one peculiarity about Ireland which has been repeatedly noticed, of which, as yet, no adequate explanation has been forthcoming, namely, that while in other countries insanity has increased along with, and in a higher ratio than an increasing population, Ireland alone of all civilized countries, so far as I am aware, possesses the unique and unenviable distinction of a continuously increasing amount of insanity with a continuously decreasing population; and, what would appear to be an almost necessary consequence, the proportional rate of increase in Ireland is far beyond what exists elsewhere. The aim of this discussion then, it seems to me, should be directed not so much towards explaining such increase in insanity as Ireland shares in common with other countries, as to an endeavour, if possible, to account for the preponderance, or the assumed preponderance, of insanity in Ireland over that of other countries.

Increase of Insanity in Ireland

I have endeavoured to prepare tables on Irish Lunacy corresponding to those which I have given in my paper∗ on the “Alleged Increase of Insanity in England and Wales.”

1. Insanity in Ireland in 1872

The Irish Blue Book for 1872—the twenty-second Report of the Inspectors and Commissioners of Control of Asylums for the Insane in Ireland—did not appear in time to be reviewed in our issue for last October along with the Reports (for the same period) of the English and Scotch Commissioners. We now, however, take the first opportunity of noticing its contents, and only regret that our space is too limited to enable us to do them justice. The report is a most interesting one, and the appendices, which are very full and complete, bear evidence of the bestowal of much labour on their compilation.

1. Insanity in Ireland in 1872

The Irish Blue Book for 1872—the twenty-second Report of the Inspectors and Commissioners of Control of Asylums for the Insane in Ireland—did not appear in time to be reviewed in our issue for last October along with the Reports (for the same period) of the English and Scotch Commissioners. We now, however, take the first opportunity of noticing its contents, and only regret that our space is too limited to enable us to do them justice. The report is a most interesting one, and the appendices, which are very full and complete, bear evidence of the bestowal of much labour on their compilation.

1. Insanity and Hospitals for the Insane in Ireland

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Medical Superintendents of Hospitals for the Insane in Ireland

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Insanity and Hospitals for the Insane in Ireland

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The Irish District Asylums for the Insane

We have before us an Act of Parliament, passed at the close of the late session, in connection with our sister institutions for the insane in Ireland, the provisions of which, being of more or less importance to our more distant brethren, we are desirous of analysing as fully as pressure upon our space will permit.