TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2013//
TI  - The bones of the insane
JO  - History of psychiatry
A1  - Wallis, Jennifer
SP  - 196
EP  - 211
VL  - 24
IS  - 2
N2  - This article examines alienist explanations for fracture among British asylum patients in the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. A series of deaths in asylums came to light in the 1870s which, in placing the blame for such incidents on asylum staff, called for a response from the psychiatric profession. This response drew upon other medical fields and employed novel pathological techniques to explain why fractures occurred among the insane, in many cases aligning bone fragility with particular forms of insanity (namely, General Paralysis of the Insane). Although such research aimed to provide a medical explanation for the 'fracture death', it also called into question the value of pathological research and the utility of quantitative measurement in understanding mental disease.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0957-154X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0957154X13476200
ID  - ref1
ER  -