Treatment for schizophrenia in 1700s-1800s England

[hermione_like]

Story Background: I’m writing a retelling of Alice in Wonderland. It’s going to take place in a made-up country but the setting is more or less based on 1700s-1800s England. What I really want to do is write a retelling that doesn’t involve talking animals or anything fantastical and make everything more realistic. Because of that, the character of

Comments

[kutsuwamushi]

I think you might want the impossible.

The first antipsychotic--they type of drug that can treat schizophrenia--didn't exist until the 1950s. Antipsychotics really revolutionized the treatment of illnesses like schizophrenia; before then, you're pretty much out of luck as far as drug treatment goes, IIRC. Institutionalization would be typical.

Note: I'm not an expert, so you'll want to get anything I say double-checked.

[hermione_like]

think you might want the impossible.

Heh, yeah, after searching so long, that's what I was beginning to think too.

Thanks for the info!

[wendelah1]

I have no actual expertise in this area. I think maybe a source like, I don't know, maybe Madness and Civilization, might give some insight.(Someone has written a dissertation on this topic, I am certain.) Or some other book by Foucault. I keep thinking of Mrs. Rochester, locked up in the attic, in Jane Eyre. For the medication question, try googling a name brand, like thorazine, or haldol. I know there are newer meds, too. But I can't think of the names offhand.

[hermione_like]

I'll definitely look up those medications. Thanks!

[the__ivorytower]

I seem to recall that people used to use LSD (LSD was originally called LSD 121, if I recall correctly) to treat schizophrenia, and that there are any number of natural products that produce hallucinogenic effects (fermenting rye, I believe is one of them).

[hermione_like]

Ooh, natural products might work. I'll check into that too. Thanks!

[samtyr]

Try this link:

http://www.eastlondonhistory.com/bedlam.htm

But as far as treatment goes, mentally ill people were often considered to be "possessed by demons/the Devil", so treatment was (more than likely) brutal and cruel by modern day standards.

[hermione_like]

*bookmarks link* Thanks! And yeah, that's definitely why they'd rather not commit him, heh.

[kittybacklash]

Couldn't they just get him opium or something?

[hermione_like]

That was a possibility, actually, but I wanted something he could take every day without becoming addicted lol. It looks like I'll just have to go with making something up but I've got some good leads from above, at least. :)

[rejoicingapathy]

What's the problem with addiction? As you going to have him stop taking it? If it's the trouble of withdrawal, modern antipsychotics (like almost all things that are taken regularly) also have visible withdrawal symptoms, most notably "rebound psychosis" from some, but other generally unpleasant symptoms on the same level as opium withdrawal.

[hermione_like]

I'm going to have to edit my post lol--completely my fault for not including this but--I didn't want him addicted to anything because it didn't fit with everything else that's going on. In fact, while the symptoms of his illness aren't as bad as other people's can be, he actually refuses to take the medication at certain points, thinking he can fight whatever's wrong with him without the medicine.

I have been thinking more about opium, though, and I think I've got a good idea for something in the sequel. :D