The Prisoners' Hidden Life, or Insane Asylums Unveiled

by Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard

The Prisoners' Hidden Life Or Insane Asylums Unveiled is a book written by Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard in 1868. The book is a detailed account of Packard's own experiences as a patient in an insane asylum in the mid-19th century. Packard was committed to the asylum by her husband, who claimed that she was insane because she did not agree with his religious beliefs. The book describes the inhumane treatment of patients in the asylum, including physical and emotional abuse, neglect, and isolation. Packard also exposes the corrupt practices of the doctors and staff, who used their power to keep patients incarcerated for their own financial gain. The book sheds light on the mistreatment of the mentally ill during this time period and sparked a movement for reform in the treatment of the mentally ill. Packard's personal experiences and her advocacy for change in the mental health system make this book an important historical document in the fight for human rights and dignity for all individuals.As Demonstrated By The Report Of The Investigating Committee Of The Legislature Of Illinois, Together With Mrs. Packard's Coadjutors' Testimony.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Genres: History, Psychology, Womens, Mental Illness

496 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1868

About the author

AKA E.P.W. Packard was an advocate for the rights of women and people accused of insanity.

Reviews

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredible book. A first hand account of a part of American and women's history that has almost been lost in time. Mrs. Elizabeth Packard documents her abduction and sentence of three years in an Insane Asylum with incredible clarity and presence of mind.

This account speaks of a time when married women were non-entities in the eyes of the law, their identity belonging solely to their husbands. As such, in the state of Illinois it was legal for a woman to be committed to an Insane Asylum by her husband even if she was not insane.

Mrs. Packard displays an incredible faith in her God and was a highly articulate, intelligent, well balanced woman who strove to serve her God in a way that she determined to be the right way rather than what her church and her husband deemed to be the right way. For this reason her husband, at the urging of his church, had his wife committed and denied of her children and her personal effects.

Mrs. Packard then set about her arduous journey of fighting for her rights to her own mind, freedoms and religion and she advocated to get these rights for women.

My parting thought on reading this fantastic book was "Thank you Elizabeth Packard for what you were forced to go through and for changing our world because of it!"

[Jennifer Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the original "indie" authors. Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard is not a perfect heroine, but I admire her nonetheless.

[Max]

really worth reading but i wish i'd had a more readable version, it's just a crappy scan of a 1800s book :(