Jacob Levy asylum records

[Errata]

Hello Errata. Two quick questions.

1. Do you consider despair a sign of mental illness?

2. If "insanity" (the diagnosis) were a blanket term, including mental illness, would your opinion differ?

Cheers.
LC

1: No I don't. And neither does the science of psychiatry. It's an emotion. And like any emotion can be perfectly appropriate or not. Despair can be a sign of a mental illness in conjunction with several other factors, including listlessness, lack of self care, loss of appetite, change in weight, etc. Then we could say it was a symptom of clinical depression. But if a loved one is dying, you despair. If you cause a negative change in circumstance in your life, you despair. If you get diagnosed with an incurable illness, you despair. Go to jail, despair. It's an appropriate emotional reaction. It's the inappropriate emotional reaction that's a better indicator. It's dysfunction you look for. Despair for no reason can be a problem. Despair for a good reason can still be a problem, but it doesn't indicate a mental illness.

2: No, it wouldn't change my opinion. Insanity still implies inappropriate emotional reactions or behavior. Slapping someone for paying you a compliment would be a broad example. Despair is normal. Even suicide attempts are normal. Suicide implies the absence of hope. And the absence of hope may end up being short lived, and thus tragic, but it is perfectly normal. Everybody has things they don't want to face, and may not have the option of not facing. If Levy couldn't cope with prison, which actually requires a personality rewrite thats rather famous amongst sociologists, then suicide may have seemed a better option. If he couldn't face the shame in his community, suicide may have been preferable. And despite the very well reasoned objections that most cultures have to suicide, we can't say that the person attempting it is wrong. We may call them a coward, we may test them for illness, we may slap them in a hospital. We don't want people to kill themselves. But we can't ever say that suicide is not the right answer for someone else. Often it isn't, but sometimes it is. Sometimes people are very good judges of what their future holds. Socially, suicide is a terrible thing. But the truth is, even today a psychiatrist cannot tell someone that their suicide attempt is a sign of a deeper problem. It might be, but no one ever gets a diagnosis of suicidal. It's not a disease. It's not even necessarily indicative of a disease. Suicide is a social dysfunction. Not a psychiatric dysfunction. Which is not to say I'm advocating it unless a person wants to live on in the memory of others as a cautionary tale of shortsightedness. But the survival instinct is not psychiatric. It's social. Suicide has been a common and perfectly honorable death in many cultures. It's not a problem with the brain. It is not illogical, it does not necessarily imply dysfunction. It simply violates our idea that life is preferable to death.

[lynn cates]

mental illness

Hello Errata. Two quick questions.

1. Do you consider despair a sign of mental illness?

2. If "insanity" (the diagnosis) were a blanket term, including mental illness, would your opinion differ?

Cheers.
LC

[Errata]

"From the fact that he attempted suicide by strangulation at Gaol & that a Brother committed suicide and Insanity is hereditary in his family I consider
him suicidal & insane."

This just kills me. He attempts suicide, which is not in and of itself any kind of indicator of sanity. However, because his brother committed suicide and members of his family have been insane, then he gets a diagnosis of insanity.

The only person who mentions violence is a Temporary Warder (and I'm not exactly sure how that is a temporary gig, but whatever). His report says "Attempted suicide by strangling. Shouting, restless & talking at night. Violence. Incessantly talking of imaginary people."

Now I admit. Imaginary people is never a good sign, sanity wise. Suicide isn't an indicator of sanity, it's an indicator of despair. Shouting restless and talking at night? Violence? In a prison? Thats newsworthy. I mean come on.

I'm not angry at the information, I'm angry at the total lack of diagnostic criteria. And even that I knew, it just pisses me off every time. Basically this guy engaged in perfectly normal behavior for someone who screwed up royally and went to jail. He acts normally in jail until he fails to commit suicide. That's why he gets thrown in asylum. Nobody remarks on his behavior for the month and a half he was there until the suicide attempt. And he may have been severely mentally ill. But nobody cared until presumably he almost got his guard fired by killing himself under his nose. Or maybe he wasn't mentally ill. Maybe he tried to kill himself and then spent the next year alternately raging and despairing about how he screwed up his life, which is perfectly normal.

He's out in less than a year. And I know that in 1899 that required at least six weeks (usually three months) of symptom free behavior. So he wasn't insane in the conventional sense. And probably not a relapsing remitting sense like Bipolar, because they would have seen an improvement and then a relapse before and not trusted it. But he wasn't psychotic. That doesn't improve or go away in six months or so.

These records don't add up. Not that I think they are wrong, but the doctor reports some pretty severe symptoms being related to him by a guard, and then he's sane in nine months. The doctor admits his diagnosis is based on family history and not observed behavior. He doesn't say I've watched this guy and he's nuts. He essentially says I've watched this guy, but because of his family history I'm going to err on the side of caution and go ahead and call him nuts. That's never a good sign.

I mean Levy may have been as mad as a hatter for all I know. But he may have been perfectly sane for all the Superintendent knew. He judged Levy on the wrong criteria. Common enough occurrence. Still happens today. But it means no reputable psychiatrist with even the the slightest about of knowledge on the history of the profession can ever tell us if Levy was really mentally ill. Or if he even had some abnormal issues. Kosminski for better or for worse has a proper evaluation floating around. We could debate a diagnosis, but clearly Kosminski was in crisis. This is not the equivalent for Levy. All we can say for sure is Levy experienced at least one brief moment of crippling despair. And despite the fact that this is nothing new, it still makes me sad. Because I could believe Levy was the Ripper because he was a dick (if he was a dick). But now I feel sorry for him.

[lynn cates]

thanks

Hello TJ. Nice work. Thanks for posting this.

Interesting that he was violent AND suicidal.

Cheers.
LC

[tji]

Hi all

As promised, these are the asylum records for Jacob. I will go in dates so the first one is the intake records from Brentwood asylum in 1886. Unfortunately it looks like his actual medical records where lost in a fire at the asylum, but the intake records does have some interesting information in it.

Thanks to ChrisP for letting me use his transcribed notes. (A lot easier to understand than my own!)

(1) Warrant of Removal from Prison to Asylum
Pressing
Registered No. of Prisoner - X 10341
Name - Jacob Levy
Offence of which convicted - Receiving stolen goods.
Date of conviction - 5th April 1886.
Court - Central Criminal Court.
Sentence - 12 calendar months hard labour
Asylum in which confined at date of this Warrant. - Chelmsford
Date when certified to be insane - 21st May 1886.

to be removed from the said Prison to Essex County Lunatic Asylum
Godfrey Lushington
Under Secretary of State.
Whitehall,
25th day of May 1886.
To The Governor of H.M. Prison at Chelmsford
AND
To the Superintendent of Essex County Lunatic Asylum. Brentwood

[dorse:]

26 May 1886 admitted
He is in a state of Melancholia, cries without adequate
cause - is very despondent - From the fact that he attempted
suicide by strangulation at Gaol & that a Brother committed
suicide and Insanity is hereditary in his family I consider
him suicidal & insane
He is in fair health & condition
G. A.
June 1 86

(.) STATEMENT respecting Criminal Lunatics, to be filled up and transmitted to the
Medical Superintendent with every Criminal Lunatic.
Name - Jacob Levy
Age - 30
Date of admission - Convicted 5 Ap 1886. (transferred to Chelmsford Prison 19.4.86)
Former occupation - Butcher
From whence brought - Holloway Prison
Married, single, or widower - Married
How many children - 4
Age of youngest - Unknown.
Whether first attack - Yes
Duration of existing attack - About three weeks.
State of bodily health - Good.


Whether suicidal or dangerous to others - Suicidal
Supposed cause- Fretting about business & family.
Chief delusions or indications of insanity. ...
1. Facts indicating insanity observed by himself [Medical Officer] Rambling and incoherent talking. Restlessness & insomnia
2. Other facts (if any) communicated to him by others, stating from whom such information is derived
By temporary Warder [?]Wade Attempted suicide by strangling. Shouting, restless & talking at night. Violence. Incessantly talking of imaginary people.
Whether subject to epilepsy - No
Whether of temperate habits - Believed to be temperate.
Degree of education - [????] Well??
Religious persuasion - Jew
Crime - Felony
When and where tried - C.C.C. (Central Criminal Ct)
Verdict of jury - Guilty
Sentence - 12 C. mos.
H.M. Prison, Chelmsford
Date, May 26. 1886.
(Signed) EH[???]Carter Medical Officer.

[dorse:]
6720
26/5/86
Jacob Levy
Prison Commrs
Sentence expires
4 April 1887.
Disd 3/2/87

(.) Warrant of Absolute Discharge.
Registered No. of Criminal Lunatic X 10341
Name Jacob Levy
Offence of which convicted Receiving stolen goods
Date of conviction 5 April 1886
Court Central Criminal Court
Sentence 12 cal. mos. H.L.
Asylum in which confined at date of this Warrant Brentwood
Date of Warrant of removal to the said Asylum 25 May 1886.
[Signed] Henry Matthews One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State.
Whitehall, 31st. day of January 1887


To The Superintendent of The County Lunatic Asylum. at Brentwood. Essex
(.) X 10341/2
Whitehall, 31st. January 1887
[Acknowledges receipt of letter of the] 22nd instant enclosing
a certificate that the criminal lunatic
Jacob Levy is now of sound mind
and fit for discharge; and I am
to transmit to you, herewith, under
all the circumstances of the case,
a warrant authorizing his absolute
discharge, under section 5 of the Criminal
Lunatics Act 1884, from your Asylum.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
Godfrey Lushington
[To] The Superintendent
of the County Asylum
at Brentwood,
Essex.

Tracy