title: The most deadly disease of asylumdom: general paralysis of the insane and Scottish psychiatry, c.1840-1940.
abstract: General paralysis of the insane (GPI) was one of the most devastating diseases observed in British psychiatry during the century after 1840, in terms of the high number and type of patients diagnosed, the severity of its symptoms and, above all, its utterly hopeless prognosis. With particular reference to the physicians and patients of the Royal Edinburgh Asylum, this article explores the diagnostic process and the social and medical significance of the 'death sentence' that accompanied the GPI diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, Old Medical Quad, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG, UK. Gayle.Davis@ed.ac.uk
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000266:history*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000266:history*; D009494:Neurosyphilis / Q000266:history* / Q000523:psychology; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000266:history*; D012606:Scotland