So Far Disordered in Mind: Insanity in California 1870 - 1930

Between the San Francisco earthquake in 1906 and the Great Depression in 1929, the San Francisco Superior Court committed more than 12,000 city residents to the insane asylums of California. This book is the first historical study of insanity to analyze thousands of court commitment records, revealing that two-thirds of those committed were odd, peculiar, or immoral individuals who displayed no symptoms indicating severe disability or violent or destructive tendencies. The rise of new institutions and new professions in cities like San Francisco by the 1920s marked a decisive turning point in social policy, leading to the effort to shut down hospitals and replace them with community mental health centers.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 222 pages
Publication date: 25 March 2022
Publisher: University of California Press

Between the San Francisco earthquake in 1906 and the Great Depression in 1929, the San Francisco Superior Court committed more than 12,000 city residents to the insane asylums of California. Who were these people? What brought them to the attention of the court, and what behavior did the medical examiners cite as evidence of insanity? What do these commitments reveal about the social and cultural meaning of insanity and other forms of deviant behavior in industrial California—and by extension in the rest of urban America in the early twentieth century?

This book, the first historical study of insanity to analyze thousands of court commitment records, provides an original look at the social, institutional, and professional web in which deviant individuals were officially judged so far disordered in mind that they were dangerous to be at large. A full two-thirds of all those committed were, to judge by the court records, odd, peculiar, or simply immoral individuals who displayed no symptoms indicating severe disability, or violent or destructive tendencies. However surprising this fact may seem, it is not at all unexpected in view of the expressed function of insane asylums in the late nineteenth century. As early as the 1850s, and continuing into the twentieth century, asylum superintendents bewailed the role state law required them to play: that of managers of enormous warehouses for drunkards, simpletons, fools, the aged, the vagabond, the helpless. Local communities made liberal use of state asylums, where at no cost to themselves, potentially troublesome citizens could be detained. Only after World War I did local mental hygiene clinics and urban psychopathic wards begin to spring up.

The rise of new institutions (clinics and wards) and new professions (psychiatry and psychology) marked a significant shift in the treatment of mental illness. Prior to this, insanity was primarily viewed as a spiritual or moral condition, and individuals were often subjected to harsh treatments such as electroshock therapy or lobotomies. However, with the advent of scientific research and the development of new diagnostic tools, mental illness was increasingly recognized as a medical condition that required treatment.

The commitment records from the San Francisco Superior Court provide a unique insight into the lives of those who were labeled as insane. They reveal a range of factors that led individuals to be committed, including poverty, trauma, mental illness, and social isolation. Many of the individuals committed had experienced significant trauma, such as the loss of a loved one or the experience of war. Others had mental illnesses that were not well understood or treated at the time, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

The medical examiners who conducted the commitment hearings cited a range of behaviors as evidence of insanity. These behaviors included hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, and disorientation. However, it is important to note that not all individuals who were committed exhibited these symptoms. Some individuals were committed based on their behavior, such as aggression or self-harm, even though they did not display any signs of mental illness.

The commitments from the San Francisco Superior Court reveal a complex social and cultural meaning of insanity and other forms of deviant behavior in industrial California and the rest of urban America in the early twentieth century. They highlight the ways in which mental illness was stigmatized and marginalized, and the ways in which individuals who were labeled as insane were subjected to harsh and often abusive treatments. They also reveal the ways in which local communities used state asylums to manage potentially troublesome citizens, at no cost to themselves.

Overall, this book provides a valuable contribution to the history of mental illness and the treatment of deviant behavior in industrial America. It sheds light on the ways in which social, institutional, and professional factors shaped the treatment of mental illness and the lives of those who were labeled as insane. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of mental health and the development of modern psychiatry.

Weight: 272g
Dimension: 216 x 140 x 13 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780520305014