Research on the history of psychiatry

Abstract

This study examines the memories of former asylum residents who were patients in American state-run psychiatric hospitals between the 1940s and 1970s, the period characterized by the dein-stitutionalization of asylum residents. Two different modes of memories are introduced and examined: collective and personal. Former asylum residents and patient liberation activists used these two kinds of memory to navigate their lives in the community or as a platform to advance their political agendas, respectively. The memories of post-war asylums are examined in the context of the post-war historic shift where an increasing number of former residents began re-examining their asylum experiences as a part of a larger story of liberation and empowerment of oppressed groups. This work includes six oral interviews with former asylum residents, and many printed, online and archival sources were also used.