Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
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Asylums, Insanity, Grand Narratives and the Problem of the
‘Irish Case’
Dr Damien Brennan
School of Nursing and Midwifery,
Trinity College,
Dublin
dbrennan@tcd.ie
This paper will draw from a data set that has been developed by the
author, which maps the rise and fall of psychiatric hospital
utilisation in Ireland from 1817 to 2000. This data demonstrates
that the Irish experience contrasts sharply with other countries
particularly as Ireland had the highest rate internationally of
psychiatric hospital utilisation. As such the Irish case should be a
model that illustrates established theories, or ‘grand narratives’ that
seek to explain the trajectory of asylum usage. However this paper
will argue that is not the case, and in fact the Irish experience of
asylum usage challenges the logic on which such grand narratives
are premised. Three theories relating to asylum usage will be
explored and rebutted with both historical and empirical evidence.
Firstly, theoretical perspectives that link a classic pattern of
industrialisation with the development and expansion of asylums
will be explored. It will be argued that this theory is diametrically at
odds with the socio-economic reality of Irish life which remained
predominantly rural and un-industrialised through the period of
asylum growth. Secondly, explanations that link private enterprise
with asylum provision will be problematised, asylums in Ireland
being publicly owned and managed. Lastly theories of church
intervention will be rebuked and it will be demonstrated that Irish
asylum provision remained outside of church control, which is
unusual both internationally and within the context of an
established pattern of church / state partnerships in Irish social
service provision.
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