Lost Souls : Women, Religion and Mental Illness in the Victorian Asylum
Author(s): Diana Peschier
How did the Victorians view mental illness? After discovering the case-notes of women in Victorian asylums, Diana Peschier reveals how mental illness was recorded by both medical practitioners and in the popular literature of the era, and why madness became so closely associated with femininity. Her research reveals the plight of women incarcerated in 19th century asylums, how they became patients, and the ways they were perceived by their family, medical professionals, society and by themselves.
Review(s):
“The diverse texts Peschier examines in Lost Souls compose a rich, understudied resource that will continue to yield valuable insights into religion’s formative role in historical frameworks of cognitive difference in Western contexts and prehistories of what disability scholars and activists have called neurodiversity.” - H-Disability
“The book is recommended to researchers who want to learn more about using texts as primary source material and what this humanist approach can bring to the social sciences. In fact, the book’s methodology of examining primary text materials … is one of its major contributions to the field of social work.” - Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work
“This is a fascinating exposition of female madness and how it manifested itself in religious expression in the Victorian era. Peschier's extensive research provides us with a unique insight into the gendered treatment of these beleaguered women.” —Julie Peakman, author of Hitler's Island War (2017), and Amatory Pleasures (2016)
ISBN: 9781788318075