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This paper examines the multiple influences Scottish psychiatrists have exercised over the shape of English responses to mental illness during nearly three centuries, beginning with George Cheyne and ending with R.D. Laing. Scotland’s distinctive response to mental illness was largely ignored until recently, as though it had simply followed the English path. The neglect has begun to be rectified, but the powerful influence of the Scots on developments south of the border requires more sustained attention than it has received hitherto. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses some contradictions in the discovery of mental illness in England as a response to Edward Hare's study on the number of mentally ill people. One contradiction is the boost in the number of mentally ill people when an approach which aimed at treating these people was carried out. Hare argues that the growth in numbers mirrors a real increase in the most serious forms of the disorder, schizophrenia. Despite the efforts to minimize such cases except on extreme cases, psychiatrists were forced to announced that one is insane because of embarrassment.

Focuses on the medical career of John Conolly, a pioneer in the nonrestraint treatment of the mentally ill in England. Educational and family background; Criticisms of Connolly on asylum treatment; Achievements of Connolly in the treatment of insanity.