Author Description

Tells how the mentally ill were treated in 20th century Wales through the Mid Wales Mental Hospital, which began as a lunatic asylum and closed when community care took over 100 years later. It was the only UK hospital for psychotic POWs in World War II, including, briefly, the Deputy F hrer Rudolf Hess. This account is based on original archives and oral testimony, and is copiously illustrated. The book places in a wide context: life in a lunatic asylum, the treatment of shell shock in two world wars, heavy ECT and deep sleep treatment; then the increasing reliance on drugs and various therapies before the emergence of community care