Bedlam in the New World: A Mexican Madhouse in the Age of Enlightenment

In the late eighteenth century, a hospital in Mexico City, the Hospital de San Hipolito, was the first hospital in the New World to specialize in the care and custody of the mentally disturbed. Christina Ramos reconstructs the history of this hospital, from its origins in 1567 to its transformation in the eighteenth century, when it began to admit a growing number of patients transferred from the Inquisition and secular criminal courts. She shows how the emerging ideals of order, utility, rationalism, and the public good came to reshape the institutional and medical management of madness, and proposes an alternative history of madness's medicalization that centers colonial Mexico and places religious figures, including inquisitors, at the pioneering forefront.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 266 pages
Publication date: 15 March 2022
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press

In the late eighteenth century, a group of individuals in Mexico City, including a rebellious Indian claiming noble ancestry and entitlement, a military lieutenant foreshadowing the coming of revolution, and a blasphemous Creole embroiderer in possession of a bundle of sketches brimming with pornography, were all deemed to be mad and forcefully admitted to the Hospital de San Hipolito. This hospital, the first of its kind in the New World to specialize in the care and custody of the mentally disturbed, played a significant role in the history of psychiatry.

Christina Ramos reconstructs the history of this overlooked colonial hospital from its origins in 1567 to its transformation in the eighteenth century. During this period, the hospital began to admit a growing number of patients transferred from the Inquisition and secular criminal courts. Ramos draws on the poignant voices of patients, doctors, friars, and inquisitors to treat San Hipolito as both a microcosm and a colonial laboratory of the Hispanic Enlightenment. She shows how the emerging ideals of order, utility, rationalism, and the public good came to reshape the institutional and medical management of madness.

While the history of psychiatry's beginnings has often been told as seated in Europe, Ramos proposes an alternative history of madness's medicalization that centers colonial Mexico and places religious figures, including inquisitors, at the pioneering forefront. The patients at San Hipolito, who came from diverse backgrounds and experiences, contributed to the rich tapestry of the hospital's history. Some were deemed to be mad due to their political or religious beliefs, while others were diagnosed with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or depression.

The doctors and friars who worked at San Hipolito played a crucial role in the treatment and care of the patients. They employed a variety of methods, including medication, physical restraint, and religious counseling, to manage the madness. While some of these methods were controversial and led to abuse, others were innovative and helped to shape the field of psychiatry.

The Hospital de San Hipolito also played a role in the broader cultural and social context of Mexico City during the late eighteenth century. It was a site where traditional Catholicism and rationalist models of madness mingled in surprising ways. Ramos shows how the emerging ideals of order, utility, rationalism, and the public good came to reshape the institutional and medical management of madness.

In conclusion, the history of the Hospital de San Hipolito is a fascinating and overlooked chapter in the history of psychiatry. Through the voices of patients, doctors, friars, and inquisitors, Ramos reconstructs the history of this colonial hospital and shows how it played a significant role in the medicalization of madness. The hospital's origins in 1567, its transformation in the eighteenth century, and its role in the Hispanic Enlightenment make it a unique and valuable site for studying the history of psychiatry and the broader cultural and social context of colonial Mexico.

Dimension: 235 x 155 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781469666570