Religious Insanity and the Limits of Religious Tolerance in Nineteenth Century America

Abstract. Excessive zeal or spiritual introspection in matters of religion were commonly thought to be causes of insanity in the United States during much of the nineteenth century, and cases of mental derangement attributed to those causes were labelled Areligious insanity. @ In the antebellum era physicians who specialized in the treatment of mental disorders practiced exclusively in asylums for the insane. This small group of asylum physicians shared a set of values concerning personal responsibility and behavior which they used to establish criteria for what they considered to be acceptable religious belief and practice. They publicly condemned religious movements that did not meet their criteria, especially Ane