L'asile d'aliénés d'autrefois en France, ou hôpital « spécial » : bref survol institutionnel

The administrative organization and management of mental patients committed to the former lunatic asylums in France are unknown to young psychiatrists nowadays. The author briefly reviews: (1) the general characteristics of these former psychiatric institutions; (2) their architecture; (3) the medical staff who worked in them; (4) the administrative categorization of patients; (5) their internal organization according to the categories of patients; (6) the daily life of the patients; (7) the surveillance and methods of restraint exerted on patients; (8) the treatment of patients; (9) the reasons why they were replaced by modern psychiatric establishments. The author concludes that it is sometimes necessary even today to place a patient in isolation or to attach a “difficult patient” to a bed. The article finally lists the main legal texts governing lunatic asylums and provides a short bibliography.