RESUMEN
Our goal is to understand the appearance and spread of forms of puerperal insanity in Argentina and Colombia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, as well as their decline or disappearance around the 1940s. This is a historical and hermeneutical study, which uses the concepts of "field of visibility" and "ecological niche" for a transitory disease. There was no correlation between pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium and the state of delirium that led to commitment, which was attributed to predisposing factors; furthermore, forms of puerperal insanity were nosographically distinct due to their unique etiopathogeneses. As clinical cases of puerperal insanity started to emerge, the disciplinary field of obstetrics converged with psychiatry, with the former exerting more weight.
El objetivo es comprender la aparición y propagación de locuras puerperales en Argentina y Colombia, a finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX, así como su decadencia o desvanecimiento hacia la década de 1940-1950. Investigación histórico-hermenéutica, según los conceptos de "campo de visibilidad" y "nicho ecológico" de una enfermedad transitoria. No existió correlación entre embarazo, parto y puerperio con el estado delirante que motivaba la internación, atribuido a factores predisponentes y, asimismo, tuvieron una autonomía nosográfica en virtud de etiopatogenias singulares. Al tiempo que empezó a emerger el tipo clínico locura puerperal, se entrecruzaron el campo disciplinar de la obstetricia con el alienismo, con una mayor preponderancia del primero.
Asunto(s)
Trastornos Mentales/historia , Trastornos Puerperales/historia , Infección Puerperal/historia , Argentina , Colombia , Femenino , Historia del Siglo XIX , Historia del Siglo XX , Humanos , Parto/psicología , Infección Puerperal/psicologíaRESUMEN
Resumen El objetivo es comprender la aparición y propagación de locuras puerperales en Argentina y Colombia, a finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX, así como su decadencia o desvanecimiento hacia la década de 1940-1950. Investigación histórico-hermenéutica, según los conceptos de "campo de visibilidad" y "nicho ecológico" de una enfermedad transitoria. No existió correlación entre embarazo, parto y puerperio con el estado delirante que motivaba la internación, atribuido a factores predisponentes y, asimismo, tuvieron una autonomía nosográfica en virtud de etiopatogenias singulares. Al tiempo que empezó a emerger el tipo clínico locura puerperal, se entrecruzaron el campo disciplinar de la obstetricia con el alienismo, con una mayor preponderancia del primero.
Abstract Our goal is to understand the appearance and spread of forms of puerperal insanity in Argentina and Colombia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, as well as their decline or disappearance around the 1940s. This is a historical and hermeneutical study, which uses the concepts of "field of visibility" and "ecological niche" for a transitory disease. There was no correlation between pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium and the state of delirium that led to commitment, which was attributed to predisposing factors; furthermore, forms of puerperal insanity were nosographically distinct due to their unique etiopathogeneses. As clinical cases of puerperal insanity started to emerge, the disciplinary field of obstetrics converged with psychiatry, with the former exerting more weight.
Asunto(s)
Humanos , Femenino , Historia del Siglo XIX , Historia del Siglo XX , Trastornos Puerperales/historia , Infección Puerperal/historia , Trastornos Mentales/historia , Argentina , Infección Puerperal/psicología , Colombia , Parto/psicologíaRESUMEN
A history of psychiatry cannot step back from the question of psychiatric diseases, but the field has in general viewed psychiatric entities as manifestations of the human state rather than medical diseases. There is little acknowledgement that a true disease is likely to rise and fall in incidence. In outlining the North Wales History of Mental Illness project, this paper seeks to provide some evidence that psychiatric diseases do rise and fall in incidence, along with evidence as to how such ideas are received by other historians of psychiatry and by biological psychiatrists.
Asunto(s)
Trastornos Mentales/historia , Trastornos Psicóticos/historia , Trastornos Puerperales/historia , Esquizofrenia/historia , Epidemiología/historia , Femenino , Historia del Siglo XIX , Historia del Siglo XX , Hospitalización/estadística & datos numéricos , Hospitales Psiquiátricos/historia , Humanos , Incidencia , Masculino , Trastornos Mentales/tratamiento farmacológico , Trastornos Mentales/epidemiología , Psiquiatría/historia , Trastornos Psicóticos/epidemiología , Trastornos Puerperales/diagnóstico , Trastornos Puerperales/epidemiología , Esquizofrenia/epidemiología , Gales/epidemiologíaAsunto(s)
Medicina Legal/historia , Infanticidio/historia , Legislación como Asunto/historia , Trastornos Psicóticos/historia , Trastornos Puerperales/historia , Femenino , Historia del Siglo XVIII , Historia del Siglo XIX , Historia del Siglo XX , Humanos , Lactante , Infanticidio/legislación & jurisprudencia , Jurisprudencia/historia , Países BajosRESUMEN
Death and fear of death in cases of puerperal insanity can be linked to a much broader set of anxieties surrounding childbirth in Victorian Britain. Compared with other forms of mental affliction, puerperal insanity was known for its good prognosis, with many women recovering over the course of several months. Even so, a significant number of deaths were associated with the disorder, and a large proportion of sufferers struggled with urges to destroy their infants and themselves. The disorder evoked powerful delusions concerning death, with patients expressing intimations of mortality and longing for death.
Asunto(s)
Depresión Posparto/historia , Infanticidio/historia , Trastornos Mentales/historia , Parto , Trastornos Puerperales/historia , Suicidio/historia , Violencia/historia , Femenino , Historia del Siglo XIX , Historia del Siglo XX , Humanos , Recién Nacido , Embarazo , Reino UnidoAsunto(s)
Enfermedades Endémicas/historia , Malaria Vivax/historia , Trastornos Puerperales/historia , Antihelmínticos/envenenamiento , Femenino , Francia/epidemiología , Historia del Siglo XV , Humanos , Malaria Vivax/epidemiología , Compuestos de Mercurio/envenenamiento , Parasitemia/historia , Plasmodium vivax/aislamiento & purificación , EmbarazoRESUMEN
When the French patent law of 1791 was introduced, the ancient discussion about the division of the pharmaceutical market was sparked off again and fuelled the competitive conflict between doctors and non-legitimized healers. Friedericke Burtz was one of those who followed the spirit of times. But Friedericke Burtz failed to consider that the so called Publikandum zur Ermunterung des Kunstfleisses patented only inventions, but not discoveries from nature. As invention was only accepted under Prussian legislation what did not exist in nature yet. Under tough competitive conditions the access to a patent was complicated by the fact, that pharmacists and doctors, in capacity of experts, could decide on every patent request. The professions so got a lead over the non-legitimized healers that strengthened their position; they proved to be winners in this competition.
Asunto(s)
Ginecología/historia , Mastitis/historia , Panácea/historia , Patentes como Asunto/historia , Trastornos Puerperales/historia , Femenino , Alemania , Historia del Siglo XVIII , HumanosRESUMEN
With the establishment of institutions for child delivery in city hospitals and with incorporation of routine autopsy into the field of activity of assistants at birth, childbed fever spread epidemically and was fatal in most cases. Nearly every third woman in childbed died of puerperal sepsis in the Hôtel Dieu in Paris and in the Erste Wiener Gebärklinik in Vienna. The tragic fate of obstetrician Ignaz Semmelweis began here, he recognized disease transmission from pus and body parts by physicians during the process of delivery. At the end of the 19(th) century puerperal sepsis occurred less frequently, its course was nevertheless equally dramatic. Pathophysiologically a septic thrombophlebitis of the ovarian vein was seen as the primary cause of the pyaemia. Yet, the ligature of the vessel did not alter the deadly course of the disease. Based on sections Trendlenburg realized that the internal iliacal vein plays a much greater role in protracted pyaemia. Thereupon he performed a ligature of this vessel. The long course of a complicated infection took a good turn with this operation. Trendlenburg's ligature and resection of the ovarian and internal iliacal vein were usually combined with hysterectomy. In the following decades this great operation of seriously ill women in childbed found agreement as well as rejection. Most interventions did not save the lives of the patients. Before antibiotic therapy was introduced, physicians were almost helpless against puerperal pyaemia.
Asunto(s)
Vena Ilíaca/cirugía , Trastornos Puerperales/historia , Sepsis/historia , Femenino , Historia del Siglo XIX , Humanos , Masculino , EmbarazoRESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: Although maternal infanticide is a rare event, a high proportion of cases occurs in the context of postpartum mental illness. The author reviews historical, legislative, and contemporary psychiatric perspectives on infanticide and discusses ways in which the psychiatric community can improve prevention of infanticide and promote appropriate treatment of mentally ill women who commit infanticide. METHOD: The case of Texas v. Andrea Yates, involving a mother with mental illness who drowned her five children, is used to illustrate society's complicated reactions to infanticide in the context of postpartum mental illness. RESULTS: In the United States, the complexity of the response to infanticide is demonstrated by the judicial system's reaction to such cases. Whereas England's Infanticide Law provides probation and mandates psychiatric treatment for mothers with mental illness who commit infanticide, "killer mothers" may face the death penalty in the United States. Contemporary neuroscientific findings support the position that a woman with postpartum psychosis who commits infanticide needs treatment rather than punishment and that appropriate treatment will deter her from killing again. Psychiatrists have a vital role in recognizing the signs and symptoms of peripartum psychiatric disorders, particularly postpartum psychosis, and in early identification of and intervention with at-risk mothers. CONCLUSIONS: The absence of formal DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for postpartum psychiatric disorders promotes disparate treatment under the law. The psychiatric community should develop guidelines for the treatment of postpartum disorders, foster sharing of knowledge between psychiatry and the law, and do more to enlighten society about the effects of mental illness on thought and behavior so that decisions about the treatment and punishment of mentally ill persons will not be left exclusively in the hands of the judicial system.
Asunto(s)
Hijo de Padres Discapacitados , Depresión Posparto/psicología , Infanticidio/prevención & control , Trastornos Mentales/psicología , Madres/psicología , Trastornos Puerperales/psicología , Factores de Edad , Pena de Muerte/legislación & jurisprudencia , Niño , Maltrato a los Niños/legislación & jurisprudencia , Preescolar , Depresión Posparto/epidemiología , Depresión Posparto/prevención & control , Inglaterra/epidemiología , Femenino , Psiquiatría Forense/legislación & jurisprudencia , Historia del Siglo XIX , Historia del Siglo XX , Historia del Siglo XXI , Historia Antigua , Humanos , Lactante , Recién Nacido , Infanticidio/historia , Infanticidio/legislación & jurisprudencia , Defensa por Insania , Masculino , Trastornos Mentales/epidemiología , Madres/estadística & datos numéricos , Trastornos Puerperales/epidemiología , Trastornos Puerperales/historia , Suicidio/psicología , Suicidio/estadística & datos numéricos , Texas/epidemiología , Estados Unidos/epidemiologíaRESUMEN
Taking case notes as the key source, this paper focuses on the variety of interpretations put forward by doctors to explain the incidence of puerperal insanity in the nineteenth century. It is argued that these went far beyond biological explanations linking female vulnerability to the particular crisis of reproduction. Rather, nineteenth-century physicians were looking at other factors to explain the onset of insanity related to childbirth; stress and environmental factors linked to poverty, family circumstances, poor nutrition, illegitimacy, fear and anxiety, and the strains of becoming a mother. The main focus is on female asylum patients, but all mothers were seen as being susceptible to puerperal insanity.
Asunto(s)
Certificado de Nacimiento/historia , Trastornos Mentales/historia , Médicos/historia , Trastornos Puerperales/historia , Salud de la Mujer/historia , Historia del Siglo XIXAsunto(s)
Partería/historia , Femenino , Historia del Siglo XIX , Humanos , Trastornos Puerperales/historia , Reino UnidoRESUMEN
The 19th-century American physician Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) is known, internationally, more for his literary output than for his contributions to medical science. Yet a single paper he wrote in 1843--"The Contagiousness of Puerperal Fever"--has made him a hero in the eyes of many (especially in the United States) of the struggle against that scourge. Why that one article, written when Holmes was still in his thirties, should--even in its expanded 1855 version--so routinely be referred to as a "classic of medical literature", and why its author should have been raised on such a high pedestal that some grant him a position beside Ignác Semmelweis, are complicated questions. This present paper is an attempt to begin assessing what it is that makes someone a medical hero by looking at three different aspects of Holmes's early career. He was even as a young man a poet and a physiologist/anatomist as well as the author of this important essay. Whether and how those three features of Holmes's many-sides public persona are connected is discussed as a prelude to considering whether his work on puerperal fever legitimates his status as a medical hero.