Negotiating insanity in the southeast of Ireland, 1820-1900

‘The Holy War Against Alcohol’: Alcoholism, Medicine and Psychiatry in Ireland, c. 1890–1921

“…47 This issue gained increased attention in nineteenth-century Ireland, where the significance of alcoholism as a cause of insanity was contested. 48…”

“…59 This was to be expected, given the well-established links between alcohol and degeneration which occupied much of the contemporary dialogue on the alleged increase of insanity in Ireland and elsewhere. 60 The rise of eugenics had influenced the campaign for Irish inebriate reformatories, where much of the attention was directed towards women's drinking. 61 Similarly in Britain, the major concern about alcohol was with the impact of women's drinking on the future of the race.…”

“…Their findings led them to conclude there was no significant connection between asylum size and rates of drunkenness. 80 In their subsequent reports, they made no comment on the high rates assigned the cause of alcohol, although they continued to measure them. By this point, alcohol was coming to be viewed as a 'stumbling block' for the already 'unstable brain', again mirroring shifts in European contexts.…”

“…On admission, asylum doctors could then choose to confirm or alter this information. 92 While medical rather than lay authorities therefore had the final say over what was recorded, there is little doubt that the attitudes towards alcohol of those committing patients, including poor law and judicial official, friends, relatives and even the patients themselves, were represented. 93 Case notes for individual patients shed light on the diverse criteria applied when citing alcohol as a cause of illness.…”

The Pathologisation of Women Who Kill: Three Cases from Ireland

“…140 In Ireland, the link between dangerousness and insanity was forged in the Dangerous Lunatics legislation of the nineteenth century. 141 However, this was particularly concerned with male rather than female dangerousness. 142 Women tended to direct their violence towards the self and were only admitted to asylums when they became uncontrollable, while men were often admitted after a first violent incident.…”