Women of the Asylum: Voices from Behind the Walls, 1840-1945
by Jeffrey L. Geller, Maxine. Harris
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Jeffrey Geller and Maxine Harris have amassed twenty-six first person accounts of women who were placed in mental institutions against their will, often by male family members for holding views or behaving in ways that deviated from the norms of their day. Taken as a whole, these pieces offer a fascinating and frightening portrait of life both behind and outside the asylum walls. Geller and Harris's accompanying history of both societal and psychiatric standards for women reveals that often show more even the prevailing conventions reinforced the perception that these women were "mad." Much has been written about the Victorian ideal of womanhood, the reform movements of the late nineteenth century, and the suffragettes of the early twentieth century, but still very little is known about those women who were pushed aside or hidden away. Women of the Asylum is the first book to give them the opportunity to speak for themselves. show lessTags
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I feel good reading this for an interesting reason - these women often seem to have little hope in anything other than that someone, someday, would read their words and know what they endured. The other comments on here are correct - the editors are definitely focused on affluent (and very literate) white women. I'd love to read an accompanying book of collected experiences of black, Native American, or other minority women. But the editors seem to have simply been looking to collect certain kinds of stories - not because of racism, just because that's what they were looking at. Very interesting, and some of the writings are really moving.
There is nothing like first hand accounts to bring the deplorable condition of the Insane Asylum in the mid 19th to early 20th centuries. How easy it was for a husband to get rid of an unwanted wife, just bring her to an Insane Asylum to be committed. And how hopeless the incarceration. Cruelty was rampant and only changed its instruments and intensity over time. This book is alarming in presenting an aspect of Women's Studies that is rarely expounded upon
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Author Information
1 Work 169 Members
11 Works 364 Members
A clinical psychologist and associate at Dartmouth College's Psychiatric Research Center, Maxine Harris is best-known for her groundbreaking book The Loss That is Forever: The Lifelong Impact of the Early Death of a Mother or Father. Based on interviews with scores of people, and her own experience as a clinical psychologist, Harris provides show more readers with a basis for understanding the impact the early loss of a parent has on adult development. Some of Harris's other works include Women in the Asylum, a collection of first-person accounts by women who were in insane asylums; Sexual Abuse in the Lives of Women Diagnosed with Serious Mental Illness, which includes sections on assessment, treatment and policy; and Trauma Recovery and Empowerment, a clinical guide for working with women in groups. Besides writing books, Harris was also on the editorial board of the journal Violence Against Women. Published monthly by SAGE Publications, the journal is available on the Internet as well as through the mail. As co-director for Community Connections Mental Health Agency in Washington, D.C., Harris worked with homeless clients. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1994-07
- People/Characters
- Elizabeth T. Stone; Catharine Beecher; Phebe B. Davis; Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard; Sophie Olsen; Tirzah F. Shedd (show all 26); Adriana P. Brinckle; Adeline T. P. Lunt; Ada Metcalf; Lydia A. Smith; Anna Agnew; Lemira Clarissa Pennell; Clarissa Caldwell Lathrop; Charlotte Perkins Gilman; Mrs. H. C. McMullen; Alice Bingham Russell; Kate Lee; Margaret Starr; Sally Ward Pierce; Jane Hillyer; Marian King; Margaret Isabel Wilson; Lenore McCall; Mary Jane Ward; Margaret Aikins McGarr; Frances Farmer
- Dedication
- For Daniel and Suzanne, there from the beginning
—JEFFREY GELLER
For my grandmother Molly Ozone,
may these voices speak for you as well
—MAXINE HARRIS - First words
- For years, the women whose stories are presented here had their voices silenced behind asylum walls. (Preface)
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)It only remains for us to hear. (Epilogue)
- Blurbers
- McIntyre, John S.; Hartmann, Lawrence
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Sexuality and Gender Studies, History, Biography & Memoir
- DDC/MDS
- 362.2 — Society, Government, and Culture Social problems and social services Social Welfare Mental illness
- LCC
- RC451.4 .W6 .W6567 — Medicine Internal medicine Internal medicine Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry Psychiatry
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 169
- Popularity
- 193,127
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.71)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
