Resumen

SACRISTAN, Cristina. La locura se topa con el manicomio. Una historia por contar. Cuicuilco [online]. 2009, vol.16, n.45, pp.163-188. ISSN 0185-1659.

Current historiography continues to emphasize Foucault's idea of the insane asylum as an instrument of the state established to silence those who thought, felt or behaved in a way that questioned or threatened the values of the dominant class. Far from constituting a therapeutic institution, the insane asylum tore apart the lives of those who were unfortunate enough to be locked behind its impenetrable walls. This was a place where only the power of psychiatry reigned. Although evidence demonstrates that asylums, which constituted the backbone of psychiatric assistance for one hundred and fifty years, can be perceived that way, recent research presents the experience of many who found in it a place of refuge, therapy and even learning. This work presents different perspectives that have been constructed about these massive structures used for the asylum of the insane.

Palabras llave : historiography; psychiatry; insane asylum; madness; mental illness; Latin America.

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