Journal Of Mental Science Research Articles

Enlightenment ideas and mental health nursing in the early 20th century

By the mid-19th century, German Enlightenment thinkers began to impact on leaders in the field of English psychiatry, and by the beginning of the 20th century, some mental health nurses were beginning to appreciate how revolutionary intellectual ideas could benefit psychiatric patients. In attempting to transform the work of nurses, this largely unskilled labour force was not unaware that they could enhance their professional status. Drawing on previously unexplored contents from two journals founded in the 19th century, the Journal of Mental Science and Asylum News, evidence will be presented that mental health nurses were becoming change agents as opposed to mere custodians and blind followers of asylum routines.

В. Stewart: The Increase of general Paralysis in England and Wales: its Causation and Significance. (The journal of mental science. 1896, № 143)

In England and Wallis for 1881-1891. the number of population increased by 11, 7%, while cases of mental insanity - by 15, 24%. The share of general progressive paralysis accounts for 9% of the total number of patients admitted to psychiatric hospitals in England and Wallis. For 15 years (1878-1892) the number of paralytics was 18438, accounting for 8% of the total number of patients in 1878-1882. 8.6% in 1883-1887 and 8, 9% in 1888-1892.

John Turner. Statistics dealing with Hereditary Insanity, based on upwards of a Thousand Cases occuring in the Essex County Asylum. (The journal of mental science. 1896, № 142)

The statistics of American psychiatric hospitals (Pennsylvania, New York) show that women are more likely to be affected by hereditary mental illnesses than men and more often than the latter pass on their ailment to female offspring, namely in the ratio 1, 7: 1. English statistics show that men are inherited passes more often from the father (in 1, 1 times), and to women - from mothers (in 1, 3 times more often than the father of the father).

One hundred years of shared interest

![][1]</img> At a time of increasing specialisation in journal publishing it is remarkable that a journal combining neurology and psychiatry has stood the test of time. At the start of...

Dr Eveleen O'Brien (1901-1981).

Dr Eveleen O'Brien (1901-1981) was a leading figure in Irish asylum medicine, with a particular interest in the care of patients suffering from epilepsy and the crossover between neurology and psychiatry. From 1933 to 1966, O'Brien worked in Grangegorman Mental Hospital. She was appointed Governor of the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum in January 1968 and remained in this position until 1971. An enthusiastic researcher, O'Brien published several papers in the Journal of Mental Science, including Ireland's first systematic review of insulin therapy (1939). In 1942, O'Brien obtained a doctorate in medicine (MD or Medicinae Doctor) from the National University of Ireland for a thesis titled "Epilepsy and its theories, results of treatment". O'Brien died in Sutton, North Dublin, on 31 July 1981 at 80years of age. O'Brien belonged to a remarkable group of Irish women doctors in the early 1900s, each of whom made substantial contributions to the development of Irish medical services and improvement of social conditions, especially for the socially excluded and the mentally ill.

Asylum Doctor Extraordinaire: Dr. Thomas Drapes (1847-1919).

Dr. Thomas Drapes (1847-1919) was resident medical superintendent of Enniscorthy District Asylum in County Wexford, Ireland from 1883 to 1919, and one of the leading figures in Irish asylum medicine for several decades. Drapes' career was as complex as it was remarkable. Drapes was elected president of the Medico-Psychological Association for the term 1911-12 but had to decline on health grounds. In 1912, however, he was unanimously elected as co-editor of the Journal of Mental Science, to which he devoted his considerable energies and intellect. Drapes published widely, opposing Emil Kraepelin's proposed division of "functional" psychosis into manic-depressive illness and dementia praecox; openly examining the use of "punitive measures" in asylums (Enniscorthy had notably low rates of restraint and seclusion); and publicly bemoaning the folly of "psychophysical parallelism", or the spurious division between mental and physical symptoms in medicine. Although not immune to passing trends in medical thought (e.g. regarding sterilisation of the mentally ill to prevent further mental disorder), Drapes was generally independent-minded, insightful and incisive, and his legacy was to help shape Irish mental health care for many decades.

Die Rezeption Eugen Bleulers in Grossbritannien und Irland

This paper draws on 60 years of British medical journals and psychiatry textbooks to indicate chronological stages of reception of Eugen Bleuler in Britain and Ireland. It highlights diverging paces of reception between journals and textbooks and attempts to make sense of this in light of other historical factors, above all early difficulties in reception of Emil Kraepelin in these countries. Bleuler was already well known across English Channel before 1911, year his schizophrenia book appeared, although this would not be translated into English until 1950. The academic journals, Brain, The Journal of Mental Science, The British Medical Journal and The Lancet, contained numerous references, mainly positive, to Bleuler and his work, with one even regarding him as the sanest of living psychiatrists. The psychiatry textbooks, however, were slower to integrate Bleuler's contribution. This article argues that this is not to be understood in terms of tension on Continent between academic and asylum psychiatry, nor as result of Bleuler's placing Freud on a par with Kraepelin, but as a consequence of British reaction to Kraepelin's Dementia praecox concept. While Craig, Stoddart and Cole took account of Kraepelin's classification, Conolly Norman's negative judgement in British Medical Journal in 1904 was reflected in textbooks by Clouston, Mercier, Savage and Tredgold. Bleuler's new term Schizophrenia made its first textbook appearance in 1912 with Stoddart recognising that name had been suggested for Kraepelin's illness, but first breakthrough came in 1926 when Craig not only mentioned Bleuler's name for first time in a textbook, but applied Bleuler's approach to his own nosology. Since 1927, Henderson and Gillespie privileged Bleuler's wider and less ominous conception of Dementia praecox and, from mid-1950s, standard British textbook of Mayer-Gross, Slater and Roth generally presupposed Bleuler's contribution.

Psychiatry in Britain one hundred years ago.

In early 1985, in the course of conversation, Hugh Freeman (then Editor of the British Journal of Psychiatry) casually threw out the suggestion that I might write a column for the journal similar to one entitled ‘One Hundred Years Ago’, occasionally published in the BMJ. I was immediately intrigued and, despite a degree of apprehension, agreed on the spot. Once I began, the element of apprehension evaporated: a job that I feared I might have found a crashing bore became a labour of love. Suitable items, I discovered, were there in plenty so that the problem soon became one of exclusion rather than inclusion. The journals systematically trawled, dating from 1885 onwards, were the BMJ, the Lancet, the Journal of Mental Science (the forerunner of the British Journal of Psychiatry), the American Journal of Psychiatry and occasionally the daily press. The first selected item was published in April 1985, and with one exception an item has appeared in every subsequent issue, now more than 250 in total. What I have attempted to do in this article is to collate a selected number of these items and to categorise them so that they present a composite of snapshots of the passing scene as it impinged on aspects of psychiatry and psychiatrists (alienists) at the turn of the previous century.

The separation of mothers and babies in the treatment of postpartum psychotic disorders in Britain 1900–1960

Background: In the first half of the twentieth century, women with postpartum psychotic disorders were routinely separated from their babies, whether they were cared for at home or in asylums. Treatment of mothers with their infants started in the 1950s but the reasons for this change in policy have not been explored. Methods: Examination of secondary and primary historical sources, including a systematic manual search of articles in the Journal of Mental Science (1900–1960) using key-words, use of other journals and successive editions of British textbooks and a search of the Wellcome Institute history of medicine catalogue. Results: The sources used document the influence of the rise of psychoanalysis, the absence of women carers in positions of power in the asylums, changes in psychiatry as a specialty and changes in family structures on the treatment of women with postpartum psychotic disorders. Conclusions: Changes in practice were associated with improvement in psychiatric treatment, changes in the nature of asylums as a result of government policy, changes in family structures with a lack of surrogate care, the development of social psychiatry and the increase in women psychiatrists. Practices in psychiatry are influenced by current paradigms and social and political influences in addition to evidence based knowledge.

Photographs of College Fellows and Members

The College archives are the part of the paper work created by the College and its predecessor bodies that has been considered worthy of permanent preservation for administrative or historical reasons. The core of this archive is the surviving minutes of the Council and stand ing committees that are preserved either in printed form in the Journal of Mental Science (JMS), now The British Journal of Psychiatry (BJP) or in manuscript form. These were

The odd couple: the partnership of J. C. Bucknill and D. H. Tuke

On the opening page of Daniel Hack Tuke's 1892Dictionary of Psychological Medicine, is a statement which reads:Dedicated to John Charles Bucknill, M.D. Lond. F.R.C.P., F.R.S., Late Lord Chancellors Visitor in Lunacy, First Editor of the ‘Journal of Mental Science’, and an early and strenuous worker in the field of psychological medicine.

Ageing and senility: a major problem of psychiatry. Aubrey Lewis, Journal of Mental Science (1946), 92: 150-170.

Ageing and senility: a major problem of psychiatry. Aubrey Lewis, Journal of Mental Science (1946), 92: 150-170.

KEY PAPERS IN GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY SERIES EDITOR: ALISTAIR BURNS The Natural History of Mental Disorder in Old Age. Martin Roth, Journal of Mental Science (1955) 101, 281-301

International Journal of Geriatric PsychiatryVolume 11, Issue 1 p. 7-14 Key Paper KEY PAPERS IN GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY SERIES EDITOR: ALISTAIR BURNS The Natural History of Mental Disorder in Old Age. Martin Roth, Journal of Mental Science (1955) 101, 281-301 ALISTAIR BURNS, ALISTAIR BURNSSearch for more papers by this authorMARTIN ROTH, MARTIN ROTHSearch for more papers by this authorSANDY CHRISTIE, SANDY CHRISTIESearch for more papers by this author ALISTAIR BURNS, ALISTAIR BURNSSearch for more papers by this authorMARTIN ROTH, MARTIN ROTHSearch for more papers by this authorSANDY CHRISTIE, SANDY CHRISTIESearch for more papers by this author First published: January 1996 https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1166(199601)11:1<7::AID-GPS288>3.0.CO;2-NRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume11, Issue1January 1996Pages 7-14 RelatedInformation

KEY PAPERS IN GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY SERIES EDITOR: ALISTAIR BURNS The Natural History of Mental Disorder in Old Age. Martin Roth, Journal of Mental Science (1955) 101, 281-301

International Journal of Geriatric PsychiatryVolume 11, Issue 1 p. 7-14 Key Paper KEY PAPERS IN GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY SERIES EDITOR: ALISTAIR BURNS The Natural History of Mental Disorder in Old Age. Martin Roth, Journal of Mental Science (1955) 101, 281-301 ALISTAIR BURNS, ALISTAIR BURNSSearch for more papers by this authorMARTIN ROTH, MARTIN ROTHSearch for more papers by this authorSANDY CHRISTIE, SANDY CHRISTIESearch for more papers by this author ALISTAIR BURNS, ALISTAIR BURNSSearch for more papers by this authorMARTIN ROTH, MARTIN ROTHSearch for more papers by this authorSANDY CHRISTIE, SANDY CHRISTIESearch for more papers by this author First published: January 1996 https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1166(199601)11:1<7::AID-GPS288>3.0.CO;2-NRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume11, Issue1January 1996Pages 7-14 RelatedInformation

The Psychiatric Bulletin: some background notes

The British Journal of Psychiatry, the title it has enjoyed since 1963, can claim descent in direct line from three earlier journals, entitled in chronological order, The Asylum Journal from 1853; The Asylum Journal of Mental Science from 1855; and The Journal of Mental Science from 1858.

Color and spatial error in block design in stone-age Auca Indians: Ecological underuse of occipital-parietal system in men and of frontal lobes in women

The entire healthy adult population of 19 nonmissionized nomadic Auca Indians of the Ecuadorian Amazon basin were given tests involving the four-colored Kohs Block Design, spatial-relational, lexical, and body and face shapes. The test results reveal a specific grouping of deficiencies in color naming (with preservation of color concept), block design especially related to representation, and construction of certain intrapattern spatial relations and graphic representational skills. This ecologically determined grouping of deficiencies suggests a homology to certain neuropsychological syndromes ( E. Stengel, 1948, Journal of Mental Science, 94, 46–58; J. de Ajuriaguerra & H. Hécaen, 1960, Le cortex cérébrale; N. Geschwind & M. Fusillo, 1966, Archives of Neurology, 15, 137–146). Further, specifically deficient components of constructional praxis ( A. R. Luria & L. S. Tsvetkova, 1964, Neuropsychologia, 2, 95–107) are proposed to reflect genderrelated limitations of daily tasks, suggesting occipital-parietal underuse in Auca men and frontal system underuse in Auca women.

John Conolly (1794–1866): the Return of the Wanderer

The name of John Conolly, writes his obituarist in the Journal of Mental Science [12 (1866): 146] “liveth for ever more.” As a reformer he will go down in history as one of the most distinguished men of his age, to be mentioned in the same breath, say, as John Howard, Thomas Clarkson and Lord Shaftesbury. As a psychiatrist he will be identified for all time with the non-restraint system after its translation from France to England. “There is no asylum in the world,” he opined, “in which all mechanical restraints may not be abolished not only with safety, but with incalculable advantage.”

Books for Asylum Doctors, 1885

Book reviews published in professional journals provide an interesting glimpse of contemporary interests, ideas and attitudes. The third number of the Journal of Mental Science (formerly Asylum Journal) included book reviews and, after appearing intermittently for a while, they became a regular feature throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century. These reviews were probably the principal source of information for asylum doctors about current books in their field, although there were a small number of alternatives for the more specialist readers.

The Foundations of Psychiatric Nurse Training

The gradual transition from unqualified attendant to the trained psychiatric nurse of the present day was described in detail by Walk. A key turning point in this story occurred at the Quarterly Meeting of the Medico-Psychological Association in Edinburgh on 16 November 1883, when Dr A. Campbell Clark, Medical Superintendent of the Glasgow District Asylum, read a paper entitled ‘The special training of asylum attendants'. This paper was published in the Journal of Mental Science in January 1884. Whilst attention had been given by many other asylum doctors to the training of attendants, Clark's experience of organizing attendant training courses and his firm recommendations opened the way to practical steps which set training on a new footing. Clark acknowledged the work of Dr T. S. Clouston, Physician Superintendent of the Royal Edinburgh Asylum, who read a paper to the annual meeting of the Association in 1876 entitled ‘On the question of getting, training, and retaining the services of good asylum attendants'. This paper aroused a good deal of interest amongst members of the Association, and a small committee was formed to report ‘on the advisability of the formation of an association or registry of attendants in connection with this Association and the best manner of carrying it into effect’. However, there is no record of any report by this committee.

Psychiatry in the 1880s: The President's Assassin and the Queen's Would-be Assassin

One hundred years ago, in July 1881, President Garfield met his death by assassination. The trial of the murderer, Guiteau, and the controversy about his mental state, were extensively commented on in the Journal of Mental Science between July 1882 and January 1883. First there is a lengthy editorial (an ‘Occasional Note of the Quarter’) in which the Editor gives his own opinion as to Guiteau's sanity and responsibility, and in later pages there is a full report of the Judge's summing up in the case. The October issue contains a detailed account of the post-mortem carried out on the body of the murderer after his execution; and lastly, in January 1883 the Editor replies to letters and criticisms he has received. The following is a condensed version of the first editorial.