Under That Calamity

“In the year 1830, I was unfortunately deprived of the use of reason. This calamity befell me about Christmas.”

After experiencing auditory hallucinations, John Perceval was institutionalized against his will for three years. His memoir A Narrative of the Treatment Experienced by a Gentleman, During a State of Mental Derangement, was first published in 1838 in London with the aim of exposing the inhumane treatments inflicted on those who likewise suffered—in Perceval's words—“under that calamity.”

Featuring annotation and perspectives from Lindsey Grubbs, a scholar of the cultural history and contemporary ethics of psychology and neuroscience, Under That Calamity offers a candid, humane look at nineteenth-century treatment of the mentally ill that still resonates in the present day.

Produced in collaboration with The Library Company of Philadelphia.