Doctor Forbes Winslow: Defender of the Insane. - Review - book review

Doctor Forbes Winslow: Defender of the Insane. Molly Whittington-Egan. Capella Archive. 280 pages. ISBN 1-902918-06-1. One of the most important advances made during the nineteenth century was the development in the related fields of psychology and psychiatry. One of the most interesting and sometimes controversial characters involved in this development was Dr Forbes Winslow. He was born, as it were, into treating the mentally ill as his father had owned a private asylum. His own career was often controversial and he was accused of various professional misjudgements. He was attracted to spiritualism for a while in his later years, became involved in the Jack the Ripper case and is known to have misdiagnosed several patients. Yet, as the author rightly observes, 'All biographies are an explanation. Not all are an excuse'. On the other hand he cared deeply for his patients and was able to 'recognize, describe, classify, sedate and control' and, because of his personality, to 'calm, even comfort'. The limits of the available knowledge meant that he could seldom cure. Through this thoughtful biography we get an insight not just into the life of one man but into a little-understood part of Victorian England.

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