Rilhafoles Hospital and the Psychiatric Asylums in Europe on the XIX Century

Abstract

In this paper we will analyze the founda- tion of Rilhafoles Hospital, Portugal ́s first psychiatric hospital as well as the context that led to its inception. The book “Os Alienados em Portugal” by António Sena (1883), a Portuguese alienist and first director of Conde Ferreira Hospital, will be the primary source. To achieve this purpose, we will add some further contributions from other works focused on that period of Portuguese psychiatry. In the ensuing sections we will stress the histori- cal developments of the foundation of the main European psychiatric institutions and will overview the book “Dos Estabelecimentos de Alienados nos Principais Estados da Europa” (1844) by Bernardino António Gomes, a generalist physician, director of the Portuguese Navy ́s Hospital, in which he reports his visits to some of these insti- tutions. Additionally, we will enhance his descriptions with some further data, collected from other sources. Finally, we will make a comparative analysis of the Portuguese and European psychiatric hospitals, around mid XIXth century.