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Treating mental illness
Another highly popular fashion was that of phrenology, which claimed to identify temperamental characteristics such as aggression or lust ('amativeness') by means of lumps and bumps on the individual skull, and facial physiognomy. Psychology itself retained largely traditional concepts such 'melancholic' and 'choleric' tendencies, but in 1846 the term 'psychiatry' was coined to denote medical treatment of disabling mental conditions, which were generally held to have hereditary causes.
The Victorian period witnessed an impressive growth in the classification and isolation (or strictly the concentration) of the insane and mentally impaired in large, strictly regulated lunatic asylums outside major cities, where women and men were legally incarcerated, usually for life. Opened in 1851, the Colney Hatch Asylum in Middlesex housed 1250 patients. Wealthier families made use of private care, in smaller establishments.

Two major figures in the Victorian mental health field were James Conolly, author of The Construction and Government of Lunatic Asylums (1847) and Henry Maudsley, whose influential books included The Physiology and Pathology of Mind (1867).

Regarded at the time as progressive and humane, mental policies and asylum practices now seem almost as cruel as the earlier punitive regimes. Men and women were housed in separate wards and put to different work, most devoted to supply and service within the asylum. The use of mechanical restraints such as manacles and muzzles was steadily phased out in favour of 'moral management', although solitary confinement and straitjackets continued to be used. By the end of the era therapeutic hopes of restoring patients to sanity were largely replaced by programmes of control, where best practice was judged by inmates' docility. As part of the passion for measuring and classifying, patient records and photographs were kept, in order to 'illustrate' the physical evidence or effects of different types of derangement. Particular attention was paid to female patients, whose lack of approved feminine qualities was tautologically taken to 'prove' their madness. Over the period, sexualised theories of insanity were steadily imposed on mad women, in ways that were unmistakably manipulative. Towards the end of the 19th century, the term 'neurasthenia' came into use to describe milder or temporary nervous conditions, especially among the educated classes.
Throughout the era, since disorders of both body and mind were believed to be heritable conditions, the chronic sick, the mentally impaired and the deranged were vigorously urged against marriage and parenthood. 

(Museum, Museum and Team 2014)

 

 

"Forced into a head brace, bound and held up by police officers, or sitting down with their eyes rolled back in their heads - these are the harrowing faces of mental illness in the Victorian era. 

Diagnosed with conditions such as ‘imbecility,’ ‘simple mania,’ and ‘acute melancholia’, all of them were patients at the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, Yorkshire, in 1869." (Pleasance 2015)

"Under the guidance of Crichton-Browne West Riding Asylum went from being a centre to house the poor and mentally ill to taking paying patients who were afraid of being taken elsewhere" (Pleasance 2015)

 " #1. Female Hysteria CuresWomen and their mood swings, right guys? Right? You know what we're saying. Now, if you happen to be female don't be offended, there's no shame in admitting to the occasional bit of moodiness as according to 19th century doctors it's a symptom of a deadly serious medical condition (along with other symptoms such as nervousness, irritability and the dreaded "tendency to cause trouble"). That's right ladies, you may be a victim of female hysteria and not even know it.So, how exactly do you cure a so-called "condition" that coincidentally was diagnosed almost entirely to women who dared disobey their Victorian husbands? Glad you asked. The prescription for female hysteria was usually a good spot of doctor administered vaginal massage until the woman achieved "hysterical paroxysm." 

Yes that's right, the cure for female hysteria was a doctor's hand down your bloomers until you weren't only thinking of England but screaming its name. Is it any wonder the list of symptoms for female hysteria was so long, literally any ailment could fit the diagnosis? In those sexually repressed times visiting the doctor's office must have been like a trip to Disneyland for most women. 

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(Birch 2007)

(Birch 2007)