Best of SRWP Vol. 3
Something Rhymes with Purple
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Mental Health and Asylum
Asylum is a beautiful word. It goes back to the greek for refuge or actory, which is exactly what we do when we give somebody asylum. The idea of public asylums was that they were recognizing mental health problems and trying to cure them. And so this changing astu o mental health care can almost be charted through the language of these asylumsand how they came into the language. But you mentioned lunatic. I mean, that goes back a very long way to the idea that lunacy was the result of the phases of the moon. So lunar, obviously, in latin it is the moon. A lot of people still believe that.
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