This article examines the purpose of the post-mortem in the late Victorian asylum and discusses what the findings reveal about contemporary understanding of mental health. By examining the practice at the Littlemore Asylum of Oxford, the definition of the asylum post-mortem will be questioned and issues of consent and ownership of the dead body explored. It will be argued that the purpose of the examination was partly to appease the demands of the Commissioners in Lunacy, to protect the asylum against accusations of malpractice, and to appease the resident assistant medical officer's own morbid curiosity. The examinations would therefore be better defined as dissections. This article will challenge understanding of institutional death, the legal processes required for dissection, and mental healthcare.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7616372 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0957154X17702593 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Setting the standards for safeguarding health and wellbeing in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities.
Lancet Reg Health Am
August 2024
Centre for Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Mortality in the Victorian asylum: was it so high? Standardised Mortality Rate compared with historical methods.
Hist Psychiatry
August 2024
Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust, UK.
Mortality is closely linked to age, sex, and social and historical context. Standardised Mortality Rates (SMR) address these contextual factors by comparing mortality in a population under study with that in people of the same age and sex, the same period in history and from a similar cultural context. We use records from the Hatton Asylum and contemporaneous census data in order to calculate SMR in the asylum population, showing rates that were about 2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF'Let there be light' or life in the dark? Vital geographies of mental healthcare.
Soc Sci Med
September 2023
University of Glasgow, School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, G12 8QQ, UK. Electronic address:
This paper explores the relations between light and dark/white and black disclosed in a study of Gartnavel Royal Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland, where an old Victorian lunatic asylum remains, if becoming ruined, on the same site as a modern mental healthcare campus. In-depth interview work recovering the 'spatial stories' of patients and staff, past and present, reveals a complex mixture of positive and negative memories and interpretations prompted by both the 'darkened spaces' of Old Gartnavel and the liveliness associated with both sets of spaces. These findings are framed by (a) a reading of Badiou's short monograph on Black (Badiou, 2017) and (b) an engagement with light and dark studies, both of which suggest a rebalancing of the normal valuations whereby dark/black is cast as the realm of death, everything that deadens and threatens life, whereas light/white is cast as that of life, liveliness and vitality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPerspectives of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) community members regarding mental health services: A qualitative analysis.
J Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs
August 2023
Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Federation University, Berwick, Australia.
Unlabelled: WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE SUBJECT?: Immigrant, refugee and asylum seeker populations worldwide are at high risk of mental health issues National mental health policies call for recognising Australian society's multicultural characteristics to ensure adequate mental health services to CALD communities Several barriers exist for people from CALD communities in Victoria to access and utilise mental health services Improving mental health professionals' knowledge of mental health service provision and cultural responsiveness can enhance CALD community access to services. WHAT DOES THIS PAPER ADD TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: We analysed the perspectives of people from CALD communities in Victoria regarding their needs and experiences with mental health services. Participants reported diverse perceptions and understanding of mental health issues and services Various challenges were identified regarding health service utilisation for the CALD community in Victoria, including language barriers, stigma towards mental health issues, mental health illiteracy, distrust and lack of familiarity with mainstream mental health services.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealth of children who experienced Australian immigration detention.
PLoS One
March 2023
Department of General Medicine, Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
Background: Australian immigration policy resulted in large numbers of children being held in locked detention. We examined the physical and mental health of children and families who experienced immigration detention.
Methods: Retrospective audit of medical records of children exposed to immigration detention attending the Royal Children's Hospital Immigrant Health Service, Melbourne, Australia, from January 2012 -December 2021.
Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!