Abstract
This article revisits the notorious trial of William Windham, a wealthy young man accused of lunacy. The trial in 1861-2 saw the country's foremost experts on psychological medicine very publicly debate the concepts, symptoms and diagnosis of insanity. I begin by surveying the trial and the testimonies of medical experts. Their disparate assessments of Windham evoked heated reactions in the press and Parliament; these reactions are the focus of the second section. I then proceed to examine criticism of psychiatry in the newspapers more generally in the 1860s, outlining the political resistance to psychiatry and the responses of some leading psychiatrists. In conclusion, I consider what this says about the politics of medicalization at the time.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 457-468 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | History of Psychiatry |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 1 Aug 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2019 |
Bibliographical note
The acceptance date for this record is provisional and based upon the month of publication for the article.Keywords
- Anti-psychiatry
- expert testimony
- insanity
- law
- medicalization
- newspapers
- 19th century