title: [History of the first institutions for the insane in Brazil].
abstract: The article presents research findings on the institutionalization of the insane in five provinces of colonial Brazil: São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Maranhão, Pernambuco, and Pará. Reports by the presidents of these provinces, written during the Segundo Reinado (1846-89), were analyzed. In these documents, insanity is viewed as a special disease, and it is indicated that the mad are not meant to be kept among other ill people, much less in jail. The reports also register societal pressure to have such people committed. These politicians adopted the medical discourse on insanity, but their descriptions of asylums evince the contradiction between an alleged social-assistance project based on suppositions drawn from Pinel and the outright seclusion that was actually practiced.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicologia Médica e Psiquiatria (DPMP), Universidade Estadual de Campinas - Unicamp, Caixa Postal 2135, 13106-970 Campinas, SP, Brasil. anaoda@uol.com.br
authors.forename: Ana Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Galdini
authors.forename: Raimundo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Oda
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dalgalarrondo
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000266:history*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000266:history*