My life's Adventure

I read a little about Auckland Lunatic Asylum in the late 19th and early 20th century.

I was working at the computer too much this morning. I think many of us with schizophrenia seem to work too much with computers these days. At least this is what it seems to family members I have heard from. I am starting to think I spend too much time on the computer too and not enough time reading books and watching TV. I don't watch TV shows or comedies anymore and I used to love doing that. I did try this morning to take a break from the computer and do some reading.

I did manage to read further about causes for admissions to this Asylum in New Zealand in the 19th and 20th century. The researcher, Bronwyn Labrum a history professor in New Zealand sampled about 50 cases from 1870 to 1910 and so far has compared gender in looking at various reasons for commitment. The four reasons she looked at were... "threats to property, threats to persons, varying manifestations of 'paranoia' and threats to articulated social norms." It was interesting reading and the cases described remind me of myself and others I know. It is interesting that in those days men were locked up for violence against wives. Also people were locked up for wild ideas about supporting native religious beliefs. Imagine that politics affecting committal one only has to remember the standard line about the Soviet political dissidents and their hospitalization in asylums to get this point.