'Am I mad?': the Windham case and Victorian resistance to psychiatry

Dan Degerman

doi:10.1177/0957154X19867059

'Am I mad?': the Windham case and Victorian resistance to psychiatry

Dan Degerman

Department of Philosophy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

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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	https://doi.org/10.1177/0957154X19867059
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

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10.1177/0957154X19867059

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