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The changing profile of a nineteenth-century asylum: the York Retreat

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Anne Digby*
Affiliation:
From the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, University of York
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Anne Digby, Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, University of York, Heslington, York Y01 5DD.

Synopsis

This paper focuses on the later history of the York Retreat after the initial period for which it is best known. It discusses the marked changes which occurred in the social composition of its patients and the way in which these changes modified the asylum's management and therapy. It argues that the conventional image of the Retreat, based as it is on the institution's earliest years, needs considerable revision.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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