Moments of Unreason
The Practice of Canadian Psychiatry and the Homewood Retreat, 1883-1923
Description
Moments of Unreason is the first detailed study of a private asylum in North America: the Homewood Retreat in Guelph, Ontario, established in 1883 as an early Canadian venture into corporate health care. Cheryl Krasnick Warsh studies the careers of its first two medical superintendents, Stephen Lett and Alfred Hobbs, which spanned the evolution of mental health theory from moral management to mental therapeutics and, later, neuro-psychiatry. This evolution did not make practical management of the Institute less complex: an under-paid, undertrained work force combined with an unruly patient population resulted in instances of neglect, abuse, and over-medication.
Reviews
"this [book] is a pioneering venture, and a very successful one at that ... its significance transcends the history of psychiatry in Canada itself, making ... a significant contribution to the study of the structure and dynamics of middle class family life in nineteenth century Ontario, and perhaps Canada." A.B. McKillop, Department of History, Carleton University. "makes a new contribution to the field ... the first detailed scholarly study of a private asylum in North America ... The author's methodology and scholarship are excellent and the sources used exhaustive." Terry Copp, Department of History, Wilfrid Laurier University.