Entertaining the insane : recreation in nineteenth-century British asylums

The history of psychiatry has, by and large, acknowledged the existence of recreation as part of moral treatment, but it has never placed it at the centre of comprehensive academic inquiry. By analysing nineteenth-century treatises and medical publications as well as diverse archival material, this thesis explores the scale and purpose of the varied entertainment programmes at private, charitable and county asylums in England and Scotland. It will demonstrate that the range of these amusements was significant and became increasingly diverse; by situating this study in the broader history of leisure, I am able to draw comparisons to developments in wider society and will argue that we can see reflections of the so-called 'leisure revolution' inside the institutional walls. It also allows me to show that recreation was not just offered (mostly) in line with class and gender expectations, but that some lower-ranked patients in charitable asylums and some pauper patients in county asylums were often able to enjoy activities which may not have been accessible to them when sane. As the chaplain was responsible for most 'rational' recreations, such as reading and the library, lectures and educational classes, this thesis also focuses on another area of asylum life that has thus far been given little scholarly attention: religion. There was concern that religion might prompt mental breakdown, and religious insanity was frequently diagnosed; yet religious activities were also deemed therapeutic. This thesis therefore has also drawn attention to the importance placed on the role of religion in the nineteenth century asylum and the tension between religion as cause of mental disorder on one hand and as cure on the other. Nineteenth-century asylums are often portrayed as repressive institutions which allowed for no or little personal interactions and where attempts at cure or amelioration were abandoned as they grew larger. By contrast, this thesis has revealed that many asylums displayed a dynamic recreational environment within which patients were able to enjoy a variety of activities in interaction with fellow patients, staff or the outside world, and where importance continued to be placed on restorative aims. Recreation formed part of management, but also of therapy. This thesis thus also offers an alternative vision of asylums less dominated by despondency and gloom, but rather characterised by moments of recreation, agency and joy.