1. Public mental health care in colonial Lesotho: themes emerging from archival material, 1918–35.
- Author
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Thabane, Motlatsi
- Subjects
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MENTAL health services , *ARCHIVAL materials , *PHYSICIANS , *SOCIAL order , *PUBLIC health - Abstract
This paper identifies some of the themes that emerge from a study of official archival records from 1918 to 1934 on the subject of mental health in colonial Lesotho. They include: difficulties experienced by colonial medical doctors in diagnosing and treating mental illnesses, given the state of medical knowledge in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; impact of shortage of financial and other resources on the establishment and operation of medical services, especially mental health care; convergence of social order, financial and medical concerns as influences on colonial approaches to mental health care; and the question of whether Basotho colonial society saw institutionalization of their relatives as 'hospitalization' or 'imprisonment'. Two case studies are presented as preliminary explorations of some of the themes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
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