Article ID: CBB398151696

Experimental Treatments: Women, Gender, and ‘Maternal Insanity’ in Victorian Psychiatric Institutions, 1920–36 (2021)

unapi

This article investigates new and experimental medical treatments used to cure ‘maternal insanity’ in women committed to Victorian psychiatric institutions between 1920 and 1936. Close examination of the women's clinical files reveals the use of numerous treatments, vaccines, and tests that produced a wide range of patient outcomes. Patients received the ‘medically safe’ typhoid vaccine and Wassermann test, while the more controversial insulin coma therapy, ultraviolet ‘rays’, sterilisation, and abortion posed serious health risks. Gender influenced doctors 'therapeutic rationale in most cases, while in other instances treatments strengthened the patient—doctor relationship by offering patients hope for recovery. The treatments prescribed to insane mothers remind us of the stark realities of experimental physical treatments in Australia's past.

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB398151696/

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Authors & Contributors
Coleborne, Catharine
Buklijas, Tatjana
Hutchison, Iain
Kragh, Jesper Vaczy
Larsson, Marina
Lee, Bang Hyun
Journals
History of Psychiatry
Social History of Medicine
Health and History
Journal of the History of the Neurosciences
Korean Journal of Medical History
Medicina Historica
Publishers
Palgrave Macmillan
Grand Central Publishing
Manchester University Press
Routledge
Syracuse University Press
University of Portsmouth (United Kingdom
Concepts
Mental disorders and diseases
Psychiatric hospitals
Therapeutic practice; therapy; treatment
Psychiatry
Patients
Health care
People
Charcot, Jean Martin
Mayo, Elton
Willis, Francis
Mathewson, Thomas Henry Reeve
Rosenhan, David
Time Periods
20th century, early
19th century
18th century
20th century, late
Places
Australia
England
New Zealand
Great Britain
Korea
Denmark
Institutions
Salpêtrière, Paris
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