Samuel Johnson at Bedlam
CharlasDepression and Anxiety: Books That Help
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1barney67
We know that greatness and depression often go hand in hand, so that our list of brothers of the afflicted includes luminaries like Churchill and Lincoln. It is some comfort to know that the great have suffered like the rest of us and that melancholy has been afflicting mankind for centuries.
Jeffrey Meyers's book Samuel Johnson: The Struggle struck me as significant not only for giving a vivid picture of its larger than life subject, but in particular mentioning Johnson's visit to a hospital in London known as Bedlam. In Bedlam, previously named Bethlehem, were kept the insane and others the city did not know what to do with. But in this building there was not so much in treatment as punishment. Whipping, for example, was common. Or patients were provoked to show some of their more entertaining eccentricities to the thrill of onlookers.
Johnson was offended, of course. As the subtitle suggests, he had many struggles. Often he feared losing his mind, displayed a series of tics and facial habits now known as Tourette's, and was often laid low by periods of crippling depression. Perhaps because of these struggles, Johnson had an unusual sympathy for the sick, poor, and suffering.
When I was reading the passage on Bedlam, I wondered if there were any connection to today. Unfortunately I think there is: punishment rather than treatment. There remains some sense, or so I have observed, that people would prefer the mentally ill to go away, that they have done something wrong. Although they are not whipped, they are often marginalized in subtle and malicious ways.
Jeffrey Meyers's book Samuel Johnson: The Struggle struck me as significant not only for giving a vivid picture of its larger than life subject, but in particular mentioning Johnson's visit to a hospital in London known as Bedlam. In Bedlam, previously named Bethlehem, were kept the insane and others the city did not know what to do with. But in this building there was not so much in treatment as punishment. Whipping, for example, was common. Or patients were provoked to show some of their more entertaining eccentricities to the thrill of onlookers.
Johnson was offended, of course. As the subtitle suggests, he had many struggles. Often he feared losing his mind, displayed a series of tics and facial habits now known as Tourette's, and was often laid low by periods of crippling depression. Perhaps because of these struggles, Johnson had an unusual sympathy for the sick, poor, and suffering.
When I was reading the passage on Bedlam, I wondered if there were any connection to today. Unfortunately I think there is: punishment rather than treatment. There remains some sense, or so I have observed, that people would prefer the mentally ill to go away, that they have done something wrong. Although they are not whipped, they are often marginalized in subtle and malicious ways.
