The Asylum
Institutionalising the history of psychiatry in India
Census of 1921 showing regional disparities in the numbers of mentally ill within the Indian sub-continent. Image shown under a Creative Commons License.
The history of mental institutions in India is tumultuous—a neglected, brutal space but also a sanctuary for the troubled and impoverished. Mental hospitals across the country were set up during the colonial period, and these asylums bore the imperial scars of racism—while some asylums were open to the Indian population, many were reserved for Europeans, with class and gender divides mediating access to care and compassion. The records of medical practitioners and patients in mental hospitals in India are inextricable from the history of psychiatry in the country. Weaving together architecture, politics, religion, and medicine, this history prompts reflections on the institutionalisation, treatment, and care of people diagnosed with mental illness.
Medium: Text, Images
Year: 2022
Team
Alok Sarin
Psychiatrist
Alok Sarin, is a practicing clinical psychiatrist in New Delhi, with a strong interest in medicine, psychiatry, ethics, society, history, and literature. He has been in active clinical practice since 1985, and is currently attached as an honorary consultant to the Sitaram Bhartia Institute, New Delhi.
He has received the Senior Fellowship by the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, for research on the mental health aspects of history. He is the conceptualiser of the Canvas Askew—a public forum for addressing mental health and illness issues.
Sanjeev Jain
Psychiatrist
Sanjeev Jain teaches at the Department of Psychiatry at National Institute of Mental Health And Neurological Sciences (NIMHANS). There, in addition to being a clinician, he researches the genetic and genomic correlates of psychiatric and neurological diseases using both genetic analyses and model systems. He has an abiding interest in studying the symptoms and outcomes of psychoses as well as their social and biological correlates. He has also studied historical and social responses to mental health issues, including the development of psychiatric care, medical sciences, and health policy in South Asia, during the colonial and post-colonial periods.
Pratima Murthy
Psychiatrist
Pratima Murthy is Director, Professor, and Head of the Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health And Neurological Sciences (NIMHANS). She has served as a consultant to prominent international agencies such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO). In recognition of her research and academic excellence, she has received numerous awards and honours including the prestigious Dr. Raja Ramanna State Award by the Government of Karnataka and Lifetime Achievement Award from Rotary. A prolific author, she has more than 300 research publications in various international indexed journals and scientific books to her credit.
