The undergraduate thesis deals with the change that the concept of »mad« and »pathological« experiences since the first identifications of mental diseases and until the end of the 19th century. Wherein special attention is given to the care of the mental patients from the perspective of jurisdiction, and later from the perspective of diagnoses ascribed to these patients. Another topic covered in the thesis is the overview of the early psychiatric traditions (the example of Austria and France), and the history of institutions (the example of England and Carniola region). Within the case of the first department for the insane in Ljubljana and the diagnoses of the patients between 1818 and 1843, the thesis tries to illuminate what was considered mad. A key question posed is what the difference was between the female and the male experience during this first period of institutionalized care for mental patients. Can we illuminate the position of women in the 19th century through that experience?
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