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Disappointment and desolation : women, doctors and interpretations of puerperal insanity in the nineteenth century
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Marland, Hilary (2003) Disappointment and desolation : women, doctors and interpretations of puerperal insanity in the nineteenth century. History of Psychiatry, Vol.14 (No.3). pp. 303-320. doi:10.1177/0957154X030143003 ISSN 0957-154X.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0957154X030143003
Abstract
Taking case notes as the key source, this paper focuses on the variety of interpretations put forward by doctors to explain the incidence of puerperal insanity in the nineteenth century. It is argued that these went far beyond biological explanations linking female vulnerability to the particular crisis of reproduction. Rather, nineteenth-century physicians were looking at other factors to explain the onset of insanity related to childbirth: stress and environmental factors linked to poverty, family circumstances, poor nutrition, illegitimacy, fear and anxiety, and the strains of becoming a mother. The main focus is on female asylum patients, but all mothers were seen as being susceptible to puerperal insanity.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
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| Subjects: | D History General and Old World > D History (General) R Medicine > RG Gynecology and obstetrics |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Arts > History Faculty of Arts > History > Centre for the History of Medicine |
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| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Puerperal psychoses -- History -- 19th century, Puerperal psychoses -- Diagnosis -- History -- 19th century | ||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | History of Psychiatry | ||||
| Publisher: | Sage Publications Ltd. | ||||
| ISSN: | 0957-154X | ||||
| Official Date: | September 2003 | ||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | Vol.14 | ||||
| Number: | No.3 | ||||
| Number of Pages: | 18 | ||||
| Page Range: | pp. 303-320 | ||||
| DOI: | 10.1177/0957154X030143003 | ||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||
| Version or Related Resource: | Paper presented at: 6th Hannah Conference on the History of Medicine, Toronto, Canada, April 2001. | ||||
| Conference Paper Type: | Paper | ||||
| Type of Event: | Conference |
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