An insight into an insane asylum

✍ Scribed by Joseph L. Camp & John D. Hughes

• Publisher: University of Alabama Press
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 134
• Series: Library of Alabama classics
• Edition: 0
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

In 1881, Joseph Camp, an elderly and self-trained Methodist minister from Talladega County in eastern Alabama, was brought by his family to Bryce Hospital, an insane asylum in Tuscaloosa, where he remained for over five months. Camp, misled by relatives concerning the purpose of the trip, was shocked and angered at his loss of freedom and his treatment in the hospital. After his release, he composed an account of his stay and published it at his own expense, providing a rare glimpse of 19th century mental health care from a patient’s viewpoint. Camp’s account reveals his naive trust in others, but also a sharp and retentive memory. Camp is remarkably accurate in his account of the details of his treatment and the operation and staff of the hospital, although his emotional assessments reflect his unhappiness with his situation. Adding to the importance of Camp’s account is the fact that in the 19th century Bryce was considered a remarkably humane institution focused on recovery. Camp provides a glimpse into how treatment for the insane felt to the recipient.

✦ Table of Contents

Content: Introduction --
John S. Hughes
I. My Ancestors
II. Insane Hospital
III. Becoming Acquainted with the Inmates
IV. Mr. Perkins
V. The Wardmasters and Mistresses
VI. Mr. Perkins's Rebuke
VII. Friarson and Jones
VIII. The First Man Ever in the Asylum
IX. Nuckles's Church-Letter
X. My Son's Arrival
XI. Writ of Habeas Corpus
XII. Massingale and Steadmire
XIII. The Asylum
XIV. Mr. Ford
XV. Settlement in Alabama
XVI. Coffee
XVII. The Discovery of Alabama by De Soto
XVIII. First Settlers of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

✦ Subjects

Camp, Joseph, -- 1811- -- Mental health. Psychiatric hospital patients -- Alabama -- Tuscaloosa -- Biography. Bryce Hospital (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) Camp, Joseph, -- 1811- Alabama Insane Hospital (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) Hospitals, Psychiatric -- Alabama -- Autobiography. Patients -- Alabama -- Autobiography. Mental Disorders -- therapy -- Alabama -- Autobiography.