Body: | Sanity and Insanity
Charles Arthur Mercier
1890 AD
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Introduction:
In 1890 AD, Charles Arthur Mercier, psychiatrist, insisted that the
insane, who are not a physical danger to others, should be kept locked up
against their will on the basis of social and behaviour control. "the
seclusion of the insane in asylums is necessary and right." This view
continues today. However Mercier stated in blunt terms what every
psychiatrist knows today, but would never be honest enough to publicly
admit. He wants the insane to be locked up in order to protect the public
from conduct that is "revolting, shameful, indecent, obscene, disgraceful
and filthy". Of course, this is not insane behaviour, it is sinful conduct
that the insane have chosen to engage in. He states that the behaviour of
the majority of the insane is "more shameless and filthy in their conduct
than so many monkeys". Mercier argues that the insane must be protected
against themselves: "in order to prevent him from squandering his means and
ruining himself and his family". He cleverly argues that the insane will
actually thank those who locked him up when he gets out, by preventing him
from shaming and humiliating himself in public. "restraining him from
performing acts which are not dangerous, but which are disgraceful, and
which he himself would, on his recovery, be loudest in blaming his friends
for not preventing". But the 300 year history of psychiatry as a parallel
penal/legal system and method of behaviour control is clear! "It is not
merely that the public must be protected from such conduct as this. They
have a right, also, to be prevented from witnessing it, to be protected
from the danger of witnessing it; and it is for this reason, more than for
any other, that the seclusion of the insane in asylums is necessary and
right." (Sanity and Insanity, Charles Arthur Mercier, 1890 AD)
Psychiatry Is Behaviour And Social Control
Sanity and Insanity, Charles Arthur Mercier, 1890 AD
"Thirdly, a knowledge of the principles on which insanity should be
regarded can scarcely fail to be of service to that large, and now much
increased, section of the community who have to do officially, but as
amateurs, with the insane. I refer to the magistrates under the new Lunacy
Act, to barristers, and others. The want of knowledge of the rudiments of
insanity among the general public is remarkable. I have heard a Queen's
Counsel gravely tell a jury that it was against the law for a lunatic: to
be sent to an asylum unless he (the lunatic) was dangerous. That is,
fortunately, not the law ; but there are very many people who are in are
strongly of opinion that it ought. to be the law. A very little knowledge
of lunacy would alter this opinion. Apart front the fact that it is
desirable to cure the insanity, and that in many cases a cure can only be
attempted within an asylum; apart from the necessity, that so often exists,
of secluding a perfectly harmless lunatic in order to prevent him from
squandering his means and ruining himself and his family; apart from the
desirability of restraining him from performing acts which are not
dangerous, but which are disgraceful, and which he himself would, on his
recovery, be loudest in blaming his friends for not preventing ; there
remains the most important fact that the distinguishing feature of the
insane is, not their dangerous aggressiveness, but their revolting
indecency and obscenity. Of course, not all the insane are thus
characterized, but a majority of them, probably a large majority, of both
men and women are, or would be if freed from restraint, more shameless and
filthy in their conduct than so many monkeys. It is not merely that the
public must be protected from such conduct as this. They have a right,
also, to be prevented from witnessing it, to be protected from the danger
of witnessing it; and it is for this reason, more than for any other, that
the seclusion of the insane in asylums is necessary and right." (Sanity and
Insanity, Charles Arthur Mercier, 1890 AD, p xiv)
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