“A list purportedly documenting dozens of reasons why people were committed to insane asylums between 1864 and 1889… … list was frequently shared with humorous messages about how common acts such as “novel reading,” “laziness,” or the “overstudy of religion” would land much of today’s population in an asylum.”
Then there are people who like to say how EVERYTHING was better back in the days.
I fear the sad truth is (in this country anyway) that people were often locked up for no reason at all.
Wow. . . Of all the insane reasons to think someone’s “insane”! Unbelievable.
Yeah! Makes me wonder if “over action of the mind” was about thinking too much or having too much of imagination…or both. :D
I *think* they were discussing this on a recent ep. of No Such Thing as a Fish. I remember them saying a woman was declared insane for collecting butterflies.
I haven’t heard of that… hmm podcast series! before. Sounds interesting
:D Collecting butterflies (something as innocent as that must be) totally insane! :D
No Such Thing as a Fish is great! It’s put together by the QI research team. Each episode they share their favourite facts of the week and it’s usually pretty funny.
Thanks for rec, I just got into podcasts so I’ll definitely check that out! :)