| Abstract [eng] |
This article focuses on the mentally ill patients who were treated at the Fatebenefratelli Hospital in Vilnius in the early 19th century (306 cases). Based on the hospital’s register of admissions, the research reveals the social and age structure of this category of patients, the illnesses diagnosed, and the features of their treatment. The research shows that these patients were mostly young to middle-aged men coming from different social and occupational backgrounds, but nonetheless united by both their non-local origins and relative poverty. They were usually diagnosed with mania, melancholia, or hypochondria, but some diagnoses featured less specific definitions. During the period in question, three quarters of patients left the hospital “sane” (sanus), whereas others left the institution on their own initiative, were transferred to other institutions, or died. The research reveals how the mentally ill were treated at an institution supervised by a religious community representing a semiprofessional tradition of medicine. |
