'The present state and statistical observation of mental patients under home custody', by Kure Shuzo and Kashida Goro (1918).

This text, dealing with the private confinement of the mentally ill at home, or shitaku kanchi, has often been referred to as a 'classic text' in the history of Japanese psychiatry. Shitaku kanchi was one of the most prevalent methods of treating mental disorders in early twentieth-century Japan. Under the guidance of Kure Shuzo (1865-1932), Kure's assistants at Tokyo University inspected a total of 364 rooms of shitaku kanchi across Japan between 1910 and 1916. This text was published as their final report in 1918. The text also refers to traditional healing practices for mental illnesses found throughout the country. Its abundant descriptions aroused the interest of experts of various disciplines.

Experiencing Madness: Mental Patients in Medieval Arabo-Islamic Medicine.

This paper focuses on the mental patients in Arabo-Islamic Middle Ages. Patients suffering from mental illnesses generated a lot of interest for Arabo-Islamic physicians. The first objective of this study is to identify who were the mentally infirm and to compare the Arab physicians' typologies of mental patients to that of their Greek predecessors. The second part of this paper shifts the focus from theoretical descriptions to case histories and biographical sources, in order to understand how the physicians treated their mental patients, and to find out what was the social impact of this medical approach. Finally, because the special provision for the insane is a distinctive feature of the Islamic hospital, the third part of my paper examines whether the main purpose of these hospitals was the patients' confinement or their treatment.

[Contradiction and intention of actual situation and statistical observation on home custody of mental patients].

Actual Situation and Statistical Observation on Home Custody of Mental Patients (1918) by Kure and Kashida has diverse content but contains many contradictions. This book is a record of investigations performed by 15 psychiatrists regarding home custody of mental patients in 15 prefectures between 1910 and 1916. The book is written in archaic Japanese and contains a mixture of old Kanji characters and Katakana, so few people have read the entire book in recent years. We thoroughly read the book over 2 years, and presented the results of our investigation and analysis. The contents were initially published in Tokyo Journal of Medical Sciences as a series of 4 articles, and published as a book in 1918. The Department of the Interior distributed 100 copies of the book to relevant personnel. Until its dissolution in 1947, the Department of the Interior included the Police Department and had a great deal of authority. The Health and Welfare Ministry became independent from the Department of the Interior in 1938. Therefore, mental institutions were under the supervision of the police force for many years. At the time, an important task for police officers was to search for infectious disease patients and to seclude and restrain them. Thus, home custody for mental patients was also supervised under the direction of the Police Department. This book is a record of an external investigation performed by psychiatrists on home custody supervised by the police. When investigating the conditions, one of the psychiatrists obtained a copy of "Documents for mental patients under confinement" at the local police station. The contents of these documents included records of hearings by the police, as well as applications for confinement submitted by family members, as well as detailed specifications and drawings of the confinement room. With a local photographer, they traveled deep into the mountains to investigate the conditions under which mental patients were living. The book illustrates how psychiatrists from Tokyo were shocked at the way families in rural areas took care of mental patients. While they were surprised with the conditions of the confinement rooms, they commented that nothing could be done because the households or the entire villages were poor. Some patients under confinement while under home custody had previously been hospitalized at a mental institution. Although they were told that there was no hope for recovery, the family could not continue to pay the fees required for hospitalization and took the patients home. The family members often sought help at shrines, temples, and by shamanism, but became resigned to apathy when the patient showed no signs of improvement after many years. The limitation of medicine is still a problem seen in today's society. Based on the records, we can tell which shrines and temples were popular among mental patients in the Kanto region. The book illustrates how patients sat under a waterfall at Takaosan Yakuo temple in Tokyo and Oiwasan Nissekiji-Temple in Toyama prefecture. The book also illustrates domestic utensils for meals and living as well as magazines at the time, making this book a source of information not only related to medicine but also of ethnological and sociological interest. Some investigators indicated the class of mental patient, making this book a valuable reference indicating that at the time society still had remnants of the class system from the Edo era. The book is also a quality reference regarding Chinese herbal remedies, Shugen-do, and as an overall ethnological reference for the times. Most locations of many confinement rooms were identified through this book.

Inner night and inner light: a Quaker model of pastoral care for the mentally ill.

The same theological principles that motivated Quakers in institutional reform work continue to influence uniquely Quaker approaches to pastoral care for the mentally ill today. This unity of psychological and spiritual care, inspired by George Fox, was first apparent in the work of the Religious Society of Friends asylum reforms in the nineteenth century. These principles matured during the early twentieth century as they entered into dialogue with Jung and Jungian psychology and continue to inspire Quaker pastoral care models today. This paper will examine how theological concepts affect the way Friends approach mental health care, historically and in contemporary times.

The (un)dress of the mad poor in England, c.1650-1850. Part 2.

The second part of this paper assesses how far the dominant imagery of the (un)dress of the mad poor, found in the literary, medical and representational sources discussed in Part 1, corresponds with actual conditions and provisions for the poor insane as revealed in institutional and documentary sources. This is necessarily attempted through a selective sample of sources, in particular clothing procurement for the poor insane as chronicled in parochial records. More especially, the documentary accuracy of prevailing cultural representations is assessed through a case study of the records of Bethlehem (or 'Bedlam'/Bethlem) Hospital, the archetypal English madhouse.

Pinel in the Maghreb: liberation, confinement, and psychiatric reform in French North Africa.

For early twentieth century French psychiatrists, the colonies of Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco appeared as crucial sites for innovation. Citing Pinel's liberation of the insane during the French Revolution as a precedent, colonial psychiatrists preached of their capacity to advance France's "civilizing mission" by delivering the insane from their suffering. Yet colonial renovation programs also drew them to scrutinize the failings of their own common practices. Psychiatrists saw their field in a state of crisis, marked by overcrowded asylums and outdated therapeutic concepts. Attempts to modernize colonial terrains thus also aimed at re creating a discipline that had fallen into decline.