Evidence of undercounting

Collecting data on mental illness in Germany (c. 1825-1925)

Bibliographic Data

ID5111437
AuthorsSophie Ledebur (corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume34
Issue4
Pages459-478
Publication date2021-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScience in Context (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0269-8897 • E-ISSN: 1474-0664
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0269889723000078
PMID37400955
OpenAlexW4383058637
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited18

ArgumentCollecting data about people with mental disorders living outside of asylums became a heightened concern from the early nineteenth century onwards. In Germany, so-called "insanity counts" targeted the number and sometimes the type the mentally ill who were living unattended and untreated by professional care throughout the country. An eagerly expressed assumption that the "true" extent of the gathered numbers must be much higher than the surveys could reveal came hand in glove with the emerging task of "managing" insanity and its potential dangers in a modern society. The doorstep of the family home became a crucial site in psychiatrists' and enumerators' efforts to register the most sensitive of personal data. This article traces the ever more diligent methods that were employed to obtain the desired information, as well as the hidden agenda of the postulate of missing data itself. It also addresses the profound impact that the presumption of having only incomplete data has had on the practice of counting and surveying, as well as on the understanding of the need for professional monitoring of mental illness

Argument (complex analysis · Insanity · Mental health · Mental illness · Mentally ill · Political science · Presumption · Psychiatry · Task (project management · Engineering · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · Law · Medical History and Research · Medicine · Mental Health and Psychiatry · Psychology

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Open DOIOpen Access