Insane children and youth in late-Victorian Britain

In the era known to modern scholars of British history as "the age of improvement," Victorians sought to better identify, categorize and manage those individuals who were unable to conform to society's expectations. This was particularly true of insane children and youth, whose mental health compromised their ability to function within their own families and within the larger community. Indeed, insane children represented a particular problem for Victorian society. Seen as the nation's future, children, including the insane, stood precariously between the family and the state. Theoretical discourse surrounding insane children was informed by contemporary discussions of mental health and child welfare, creating an environment in which British practitioners struggled to identify, diagnose and treat insane children.;Asylum records, along with articles by leading British practitioners of the Victorian period, present an intriguing picture of the quest to establish categories of diagnosis and treatment for a disease whose manifestations often defied definition. Medical men faced a difficult task. On one hand, there was a need to develop a theoretical discourse around insane children and youth, which would facilitate the recognition and categorization of mental disorders and provide guidelines for treatment. On the other hand, however, was the realization that local medical men often lacked the resources and experience to incorporate this discourse into their practices. Although doctors developed specialized theories about insanity in children and youth, practical application of those theories took very recognized forms, differing little from those of their adult counterparts.;By examining individual cases of British children treated and confined for insanity, my research establishes the common methods of identifying, diagnosing and treating this 'uncommon malady' and seeks to illuminate the ways in which insane children and youth ultimately created tensions between the family, the community and the state.