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We’ve previously posted a rather shocking list of reasons for admission to the West Virginia’s Hospital for the Insane—aka the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum—back in the late-1800s. Well, here’s another list of causes for admission to the Aberdeen Lunatic Asylum in 1847—which contains some strange and troubling reasons for being committed including:
Sedentary Life
Tea drinking (“Abuse of Tea”)
Vegetable Poisoning
Acute Rheumatism
Cancer of Breast
Prolonged Nursing
Childbirth
Religious excitement
Loss of Property
Disappointment in Love
Fright
And if none of these common symptoms fit the bill, there’s the catchall: “Cause not ascertained.”
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
List of Reasons for Admission to an Insane Asylum from the late 1800s