Bedlam by Catharine Arnold
Ann Wroe on how the story of the world’s most famous mental hospital reveals centuries of cruelty and attemped kindness
She was led to a room with straw on the floor. It made her dream she was a beaten horse. She was given a scalding bath, then a cold one, to stop her screaming. When she didn’t stop, she was taken to a room called “pads”, lined with grey rubber, on which she could pound her fists without being heard. Here she received a visit from two nurses with a bucket and a length of tubing, coming to force-feed her.


0 Responses
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.
You must be logged in to post a comment.