ABSTRACT
In her paper, ‘Moral Treatment at the Retreat, 1796–1846’, Anne Digby shows that, with all the changes in the management of patients which occurred over this period, a constant feature was the emphasis on kindness, respect, and the cultivation of self-control. The aim of moral therapy was to achieve a degree of social conformity in the insane as a means of non-violent management and in order to reclaim them, if possible, for society. The Tukes and their colleagues developed techniques for encouraging conformity in the insane; while their Quaker forebears, as religious and social non-conformists, were persecuted and disqualified as madmen. It lies in the historical contrast created by the Quakers’ gradual transformation from enthusiasts to institutionalized sectarians, from social revolutionaries to representatives of respectable society, from nonconformists to vehicles of conformity; and in particular, from their position on the lunatic fringe to their decisive role in the development of orthodox psychiatry.
