Lunacy in India

Alexander Overbeck-Wright was a psychiatrist working in India in the early 20th century; his accounts of treating the mentally ill are among the few sources of Indian mental health treatment from this era.

Filled with anecdotes from his years working in the British Raj, this book offers cultural insight into how Indians with mental health troubles were cared for. The system for helping acute and chronic cases is described; as India at the time had little formal training or institutions for the mentally ill, the hospitals were capable of only basic care, keeping the sick fed in the hope their condition would improve with time. Often patients had to travel long distances from home to receive treatment.

The author also describes the various types of mental malady he observed in Indians, and compiles statistics as to how prevalent psychosis and other mental illnesses are. Overbeck-Wright blamed at least some of the problem with the popularity of cannabis in India; he considered the substance benign in moderation, but disruptive to the mind in heavy quantities. The concluding parts of this book pertain to the bureaucracy of mental illness, such as the repatriation of British people or their family in the event they suffer insanity, and the registration of individuals as formally insane.