{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,15]],"date-time":"2026-04-15T18:20:59Z","timestamp":1776277259123,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":63,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"2","content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Med Humanities"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2015,12,4]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2016,6]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The history of mental healthcare in Ireland ends to focus on the histories of institutions and development of mental health legislation. Attention has also been devoted to clinical records, with all of their interpretative and narrative complexities. In both the historiography and archives, however, patients themselves remain remarkably elusive, their voices astonishingly distant. In countries other than Ireland, there have been more extensive analyses of patients\u2019 letters, journals and first-person accounts of hospitalisation and treatment. In Ireland, there is real difficulty accessing such accounts, if they exist, especially from the 1800s. Asylum and hospital records offer some assistance in understanding patients\u2019 concerns and, arguably, the symptoms recorded in asylum records (eg, delusions) provide further windows into patients\u2019 minds. Methodological challenges abound, but while patients\u2019 voices may remain largely unknown at present, they are certainly not unknowable. This paper posits that we just need to listen harder and, perhaps, listen better.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/medhum-2015-010825","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,5,24]],"date-time":"2016-05-24T11:06:39Z","timestamp":1464087999000},"page":"87-91","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Searching for the patient's voice in the Irish asylums"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"42","author":[{"given":"Brendan D","family":"Kelly","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,1,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.1","unstructured":"Inspector of Lunatics (Ireland). The Forty-Second Report (with appendices) of the Inspector of Lunatics (Ireland). Dublin: Thom and Co.\/Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1893."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.2","unstructured":"Walsh D , Daly A . Mental illness in Ireland, 1750\u20132002: reflections on the rise and fall of institutional care. Dublin: Health Research Board, 2004."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.3","unstructured":"Lyons FSL . Ireland since the Famine. London: Fontana, 1985."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.4","unstructured":"Shorter E . A history of psychiatry: from the Era of the Asylum to the age of Prozac. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1997."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.5","unstructured":"Stone MH . Healing the mind: a history of psychiatry from antiquity to the present. London: Pimlico, 1998."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.6","unstructured":"Torrey EF , Miller J . The invisible Plague: the rise of mental illness from 1750 to the present. New Brunswick, New Jersey and London: Rutgers University Press, 2001."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Brennan D . Irish Insanity, 1800\u20132000 (Routledge advances in sociology). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2014.","DOI":"10.4324\/9780203101803"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cox C . Negotiating Insanity in the Southeast of Ireland, 1820\u20131900. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2012.","DOI":"10.7228\/manchester\/9780719075032.001.0001"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.9","unstructured":"Reynolds J . Grangegorman: psychiatric care in Dublin since 1815. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration in association with Eastern Health Board, 1992."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.10","unstructured":"Malcolm E . Swift's hospital: a history of St Patrick's Hospital, Dublin, 1746\u20131989. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1989."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1176\/ajp.155.11.1599"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.12","unstructured":"Douglas G , Goodbody R , Mauger A , et al . Bloomfield: a history, 1812\u20132012. Dublin: Ashfield Press, 2012."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.13","unstructured":"Henry HM . Our Lady's Hospital, Cork: history of the mental hospital in Cork spanning 200 years. Cork: Haven Books, 1989."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.14","unstructured":"Collins A . St Vincent's Hospital, Fairview: an illustrated history, 1857\u20132007. Dublin: Albertine Kennedy Publishing with Duke Kennedy Sweetman, 2007."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.15","unstructured":"Mac Lellan A , Nic Ghabhann N , Byrne F . World within walls: from Asylum to contemporary mental health services\u2014a history of St. Davnet's, Monaghan. Monaghan: Health Service Executive and Stair: An Irish Public History Company Ltd., 2015."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.16","unstructured":"Commemorative Book Committee. The history of St Loman's Hospital in Changing Times. Tullamore, County Offaly: Commemorative Book Committee, 2014."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.17","unstructured":"Mulholland M . To comfort always: a history of Holywell Hospital, 1898\u20131998. Ballymena: Homefirst Community Trust, 1998."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.18","unstructured":"Gu\u00e9ret M . What the doctor saw. Dublin: IMD, 2013."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.19","unstructured":"McAuley F . Insanity, psychiatry and criminal responsibility. Dublin: Round Hall Press, 1993."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.20","unstructured":"Cooney T , O'Neill O . Psychiatric detention: civil commitment in Ireland (Kritik 1). Wicklow: Baikonur, 1996."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1192\/bjp.170.5.467"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0957154X06075949"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1258\/rsmmlj.76.1.19"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.24","first-page":"231","article-title":"The National Mental Health Act of 1946: a retrospect","volume":"39","author":"Brand","year":"1965","journal-title":"Bull Hist Med"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.25","unstructured":"Porter R . Madness: a brief history. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.26","unstructured":"Walsh O . \u2018A lightness of mind\u2019: gender and insanity in nineteenth-century Ireland. In: Kelleher M , Murphy JH , eds. Gender perspectives in 19th century Ireland: public and private spheres. Dublin and Portland, Oregon: Irish Academic Press, 1997:159\u201367."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.27","unstructured":"Walsh O . Cure or custody: therapeutic philosophy at the Connaught District Lunatic Asylum. In: Preston MH , \u00d3 h\u00d3gartaigh M , eds. Gender and medicine in Ireland, 1700\u20131950. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 2012:69\u201385."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.28","unstructured":"Walsh O . A perfectly ordered establishment: Connaught District Lunatic Asylum (Ballinasloe). In: Prior P , ed. Asylums, mental health care and the Irish, 1800\u20132010. Dublin and Portland, Oregon: Irish Academic Press, 2012:246\u201370."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/14789940801999710"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/shm\/hkn027"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.31","unstructured":"Prior PM . Madness and murder: gender, crime and mental disorder in Nineteenth-Century Ireland. Dublin and Portland, Oregon: Irish Academic Press, 2008."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/ipm.2013.65"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.33","unstructured":"McCarthy \u00c1 . Hearths, bodies and minds: Gender ideology and women's committal to Enniscorthy Lunatic Asylum, 1916\u201325. In: Hayes A , Urquhart D , eds. Irish Women's History. Dublin and Portland, Oregon: Irish Academic Press, 2004:115\u201336."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/shm\/5.2.183"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00157532"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/shm\/hkn030"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.37","unstructured":"Bartlett P . The Poor Law of Lunacy. London and Washington: Leicester University Press, 1999."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/0277-9536(84)90099-6"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.39","first-page":"12","article-title":"The ups and downs of schizophrenia in Ireland","volume":"13","author":"Walsh","year":"1992","journal-title":"Ir J Psychiatry"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S0790966700011149"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11845-008-0188-1"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.42","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/shm\/hkm076"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.43","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S003329179700490X"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.44","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/shm\/hkm043"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.45","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0363199005283009"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"426","DOI":"10.1093\/shm\/hkl042","article-title":"Families, patients and emotions: asylums for the insane in colonial Australia and New Zealand, c. 1880\u20131910","volume":"19","author":"Coleborne","year":"2006","journal-title":"Soc Hist Med"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.47","unstructured":"Porter R . A social history of madness: stories of the insane. London: Phoenix Giants, 1987."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.48","unstructured":"Pervecal JT . A narrative of the treatment experienced by a gentleman during a state of mental derangement designed to explain the causes and nature of insanity, and to expose the injudicious conduct pursued towards many unfortunate sufferers under that calamity. London: Effingham Wilson, 1838."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Beers CW . A mind that found itself: an autobiography. New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1908.","DOI":"10.1037\/10534-000"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.50","first-page":"19","article-title":"Mental health advocacy and a mind that found itself","volume":"9","author":"Feeney","year":"2008","journal-title":"Ir Psychiatrist"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.51","unstructured":"Duffy C . It happened in Ireland. New York: The Christian Press, 1944."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.52","unstructured":"Greally H . Bird's Nest Soup. Dublin: Attic Press, 1971."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.53","unstructured":"Finnane M . Insanity and the insane in Post-Famine Ireland. London: Croom Helm, 1981."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.54","unstructured":"Cullen S . ed. Climbing mountains in our minds: stories and photographs from St. Senan's Hospital, Enniscorthy. Wexford: Wexford County Council, 2012."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.55","unstructured":"Prior P . ed. Voices of mental health service users\u2014poetry and prose. In: Asylums, Mental Health Care and the Irish, 1800\u20132010. Dublin and Portland, Oregon: Irish Academic Press, 2012:103\u201316."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.56","unstructured":"McClelland G . Speedwell magazine: an insider view of Holywell Psychiatric Hospital, Antrim, 1959\u20131973. In: Prior P , ed. Asylums, mental health care and the Irish, 1800\u20132010. Dublin and Portland, Oregon: Irish Academic Press, 2012:44\u201373."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.57","unstructured":"Casey P , Kelly BD . Fish's clinical psychopathology. 3rd edn. London: Gaskell\/Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2007."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.58","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/wcs.1305"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.59","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1057\/palcomms.2015.19"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.60","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11845-007-0045-7"},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.61","unstructured":"Penney D , Stastny P . The lives they left behind: suitcases from a State Hospital Attic. New York: Bellevue Literary Press, 2008."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.62","unstructured":"Bolger D . Forgotten relics of lives written off as \u2018lunatics\u2019 and \u2018imbeciles\u2019. Irish Daily Mail, 14 August 2014."},{"key":"2025092412031517000_42.2.87.63","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/medhum-2015-010692"}],"container-title":["Medical Humanities"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.1136\/medhum-2015-010825","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,24]],"date-time":"2025-09-24T19:03:38Z","timestamp":1758740618000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/mh.bmj.com\/lookup\/doi\/10.1136\/medhum-2015-010825"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2016,1,5]]},"references-count":63,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,5,24]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2016,6]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1136\/medhum-2015-010825"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/medhum-2015-010825","relation":{},"ISSN":["1468-215X","1473-4265"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1468-215X","type":"print"},{"value":"1473-4265","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2016,1,5]]}}}