Irish Insanity: 1800-2000

The national public asylum system in Ireland was established during the early nineteenth century and continued to operate up to the close of the twentieth century. These asylums / mental hospitals were a significant physical and social feature of Irish communities. They were used intensively and provided a convenient form of institutional intervention to manage a host of social problems.

Irish Insanity identifies the long-term trends in institutional residency through the development of a de...