What comes to mind when you read the words lunatic asylum? The idea of imprisonment? Of being locked away from the world, cut off from all contact? The popular media images, whether in films, television, or in books about lunatic asylums tend towards bleak views of imprisonment, harsh uncaring attendants, and patients wondering around in a dazed, detached state, wearing straight jackets or having frenzied psychotic fits. Wards are portrayed as prison-like and undecorated. Is this an accurate portrayal of the reality of the experience of the mentally ill in the past?
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© 2007 Springer Science + Business Media, LLC
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(2007). A Space of Their Own. In: A Space of Their Own: The Archaeology of Nineteenth Century Lunatic Asylums in Britain, South Australia and Tasmania. Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73386-9_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73386-9_1
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