999 Queen Street West: Patient Life at the Toronto Hospital for the Insane, 1870-1940

grantor: University of TorontoThis study examines the individual experiences of people who were admitted to the Toronto Hospital for the Insane between 1870-1940 within the context of institutional practices and relationships. The purpose is to contribute to our understanding of psychiatric history by placing patients' perspectives and experiences at the forefront of historical inquiry instead of having them come second to the administrators who ran the hospitals. Clinical files are the main primary source used for this work. Letters written by patients during and after confinement form an essential part of this thesis. Observations left by third party observers such as family, friends and hospital staff also illustrate patient culture. This thesis is structured around themes that highlight the various stages of the lives of the men and women who populated 999 Queen Street West: diagnosis and admission; daily routine and daily relationships; patients' leisure and personal space; patients' labour; family and community responses to mental hospital patients; discharge and death. Above all else, the people whose voices and experiences make up this study show later generations that psychiatric patients have a great deal to teach us about what it was like to be confined in a mental institution and to live with the psychological troubles that brought them to 999 Queen Street West.Ph.D