Abstract

SIMON LORDA, David; BUSTOS CARDONA, Tatiana  and  ESTEVEZ GIL, Xaqueline. While they are not admitted to the asylum: madness and seclusion in Galicia-Spain (late 19th century and early 20th century). Rev. Asoc. Esp. Neuropsiq. [online]. 2015, vol.35, n.125, pp.93-110. ISSN 2340-2733.  https://dx.doi.org/10.4321/S0211-57352015000100007.

We study how the care for the mentally ill in Galicia in the late 19th and the first decades in 20th century was organized. Galicia is a peripheral area in northwest of Spain with a border with Portugal. There was a first step in the confinement cell for "insane"-"demented"-crazy-mental patients in general town and provincial hospitals and town jails in many towns and villages the four provinces of Galicia. Since 16th century some of these patients were derived cells to Asylum in Valladolid and in Barcelona. Since 1885, most of admissions were made in the Psychiatric Hospital in Conxo (Santiago de Compostela) but a lot of patients continued to be retained in these cells and jails. Using a review of local and regional newspapers and documentation in Historical Archives we expose and highlight the deplorable conditions of care of mental patients in these general hospitals and jails, and some legal irregularities and management problems.

Keywords : History of psychiatry; Psychiatric Hospitals; organization & administration; 19th Century; 20th Century.

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