‘Picture imperfect’
The motives and uses of patient photography in the asylum
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19444615 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Caroline Dahlquist (University of Liverpool), Peter Kinderman (0000-0001-8972-8548, University of Liverpool, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 130-145 |
| Publication date | 2023-06-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History of Psychiatry (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0957-154X • E-ISSN: 1740-2360 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0957154x231157001 |
| PMID | 36864823 |
| OpenAlex | W4323035395 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 29 |
In the nineteenth century, photography became common in psychiatric asylums. Although patient photographs were produced in large numbers, their original purpose and use are unclear. Journals, newspaper archives and Medical Superintendents’ notes from the period 1845–1920 were analysed to understand the reasons behind the practice. This revealed: (1) empathic motivation: using photography to understand the mental condition and aid treatment; (2) therapeutic focus on biological processes: using photography to detect biological pathologies or phenotypes; and (3) eugenics: using photography to recognise hereditary insanity, aimed at preventing transmission to future generations. This reveals a conceptual move from empathic intentions and psychosocial understandings to largely biological and genetic explanations, providing context for contemporary psychiatry and the study of heredity
Art · Eugenics · Insanity · Photography · Psychiatry · Psychoanalysis · Psychosocial · Visual arts · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · History · History of Medicine Studies · Law · Neurology and Historical Studies · Psychology
Genetics in the Madhouse
Hereditary genius
Inquiries into human faculty and its development.
Composite Portraits, Made by Combining Those of Many Different Persons Into a Single Resultant Figure
How did mental health become so biomedical? The progressive erosion of social determinants in historical psychiatric admission registers
The face of madness in Romania
‘Good in all respects’
Portraits, patients and practitioners
Patients rebuilt
The ‘scientific artworks’ of Doctor Paul Richer
Identifying the patient in George W Lambert's Chesham Street
She sits all day in the attitude depicted in the photo’
Inventing the medical portrait
Portraits of John Hunter's patients
Comfort in Small Things? Clothing, Control and Agency in County Lunatic Asylums in Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century England
The Annexed Photos were Taken Today’
Reading Faces in the Nineteenth Century
Eugenics
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |