Geography and diaspora of madness: Valencian psychiatric institutions uring the Spanish civil war.

Authors

Keywords:

Valencia, psychiatric institutions, Spanish Civil War, overmortality, hunger

Abstract

The city of Valencia received large contingents of civilian and military population evacuated during the Spanish Civil War, what led to a notable increase in pressure on its healthcare infrastructure. This article analyzes the organization of psychiatric care in Valencia during the war, in which the (little known) figure of psychiatrist Fernando Domingo Simó played a very prominent role. Among other issues, our research confirms that Valencian psychiatric institutions witnessed then a significant increase in mortality due to hunger and overcrowding, as it happened in other Spanish asylums during the war.

Author Biographies

Xavier García Ferrandis, Universidad Católica de Valencia "San Vicente Mártir"

Professor and researcher at the Catholic University of Valencia "San Vicente Mártir". He is the author of the monograph L'assistència sanitària a la ciutat de València durant la Guerra Civil (2015). He has also published numerous articles in the field of the history of medicine, focusing on the analysis of the so-called "social diseases" during the Civil War and the Republican exile in France.

Enric J. Novella, Universitat de València

Professor of History of Science at the Universitat de València and researcher at the López Piñero Interuniversity Institute of Historical and Social Studies on Science. He is the author of the monographs Der junge Foucault und die Psychopathologie (Berlin, 2008), La ciencia del alma (Madrid/Frankfurt, 2013) and El discurso psicopatológico de la modernidad (Madrid, 2018), as well as numerous articles and essays devoted to the history and philosophy of psychiatry, psychology and medicine.

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Published

2024-03-26

Issue

No. 108 (2024)

Section

Estudios