"The book probes how the serious and sometimes fatal decision was made to admit individuals to asylums during Germany's age of extremes. The book shows that - even during the Nazi killing of the sick - relatives played an even more important role in mostadmissions than doctors and the authorities. In light of admission practices, this study traces how ideas about illness, safety and normality changed when the Nazi regime collapsed in 1945 and illuminates how closely power configurations in the psychiatric sector were linked to political and social circumstances"--
The book probes how the serious and sometimes fatal decision was made to admit individuals to asylums during Germanys age of extremes. The book shows that - even during the Nazi killing of the sick - relatives played an even more important role in most admissions than doctors and the authorities.
In light of admission practices, this study traces how ideas about illness, safety, and normality changed when the Nazi regime collapsed in 1945 and illuminates how closely power configurations in the psychiatric sector were linked to political and social circumstances.
The book probes how the serious and sometimes fatal decision was made to admit individuals to asylums during Germanys age of extremes.
1. Historical Parameters of Committal PracticePsychiatry, State, and
Society to 1941
2. The State and Psychiatric InstitutionsParameters and
Committal Decisions
3. Danger and Security: On the Practice of Compulsory
Committal
4. Disease and DiagnosticsMedical Aspects of Committal
5. Work and
PerformanceAbility and Inability to Work in Committal Rationales
6.
Conclusion.
Stefanie Coché is a historian at the Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen. Her research interests are history of psychiatry, religious history, German history, and American history.
