Tag Archives: laypersons assessments of insanity

An Important Alienist

Alienists Were Considered Experts

Alienists became more important as experts to draw on after psychiatry became more established.

Dr. William A. White, for many years the superintendent of the federal government’s first hospital for the insane, St. Elizabeths, was an especially important figure.

His book, Outlines of Psychiatry, became a classic in its field and was used as a textbook for many years. Continue reading