Summary: The Physiognomy Of Insanity

In other words, photography can be used to present objectivity, to facilitate treatment and for future re-admissions of the insane. With his presentation Diamond’s application of photography to the insane in asylums became widespread. Just a few years later in 1858 British psychiatrist John Conolly published, “The Physiognomy of Insanity,” in The Medical Times and Gazette. In this series of essays Conolly reproduces photos taken by Diamond and provides a detail of each photo selected. I have included four of the plates Conolly used in his essay below.

While Conolly and Diamond argued for the use of photography to objectively represent the “general external character of mental suffering, or derangement of mind, and of structural changes

or of congenital or induced peculiarities of the brain,” I argue that there is no face for madness, those who suffer from mental illness do not possess objectively identifiable facial features (Gilman, Disease, 41, 42).
Contrary to the position they held, photography during the 19th Century was not developed well enough to capture the changing mental states of the insane. While photography was better than the sketches once used to depict the insane, “the new technology proscribes the recording of anything but fixed expression…due to the long exposure time needed in the calotype prints” (Gilman, Disease, 41). Besides the long exposure time needed, and the “assumption of the objectivity of the photograph, an additional problem…is in the reproduction of the illustrations taken by the printing techniques then available” (Gilman, Seeing, 168, 169). But, even with evidence of the technological problems of photography in the 19th Century, many including Diamond and Conolly believed that the benefits of such a device outweighed the problems. As a result, “photographic physiognomy” has shackled the image of the insane to traditional stereotypes. The traditional view that has established a certain “face” and certain behavioral characteristics to the insane has negatively impacted those who are currently seen as having mental illness in the 21st Century.
Science’s answer to making visible the invisible has linked the past to the present. This “tradition of visually representing madness…points toward the need of society to identify the made absolutely. Society which defines itself as sane, must be able to localize and confine the mad…thus the strength of the visual stereotype is that…one does not even have to wait for the insane to speak. The mad are instantly recognizable” (Gilman, Disease, 48). Even with advances in medicine, science and technological devices in the 21st Century the negative portrayal of mental illness has remained constant. This consistency becomes apparent when one looks at the media. Take for example the portrayal of mental illness in films. The Silence of the Lambs, Psycho, American Psycho, Hannibal, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Saw, Seven, Halloween and Identity (just to name a few) are all films that have one character who suffers from mental illness. These mentally ill characters are all depicted as extremely dangerous and must be avoided, captured or killed. What further instills this connection in the minds of individuals is the portrayal of mental illness in news stories. All cases depicting those who suffer from mental illness in the news are of murder. To drive my point home, I will use two different legal cases, from two different years where the defendant is stated to have a mental illness.
Take for example the case of Jared Lee Loughner.

On January 8, 2011, Loughner attacked and “killed six people and wounded 13 others, including…then-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords outside a supermarket in Tucson, Arizona” (cnn.com). In the CNN article “Loughner pleads guilty to 19 counts in Tucson, Arizona, mass shooting,” there is a hyperlink stated as, “Warning signs of violence: What to do.” What is important about this is that the hyperlink leads to another CNN article about James Holmes, the Colorado theater shooter. Within the Holmes article there is another hyperlink stated as, “Warning signs from a troubled mind: What parents should do” that leads to a page about Loughner that mentions that Loughner could have “underlying mental health issues such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder” (cnn.com). Though it may not be intentional, these hyperlinks within the articles support society’s view that there is a connection between mental illness and violence. What’s further shocking is what the judge said about Loughner in court. Within the article Judge Larry Alan Burns is quoted as saying, “he’s a different person in appearance and affect” (cnn.com). What this quote suggests is that in the minds of society there is a difference between how the sane look and how the insane appear. However, in all fairness, I do not know what Judge Larry Alan Burns really means by his statement. I can only infer what he meant by the context of the article. If Burns meant something else by his

statement he would have chosen to use a different term than “appearance.” What further supports my claim is the illustration of Loughner in the CNN article shown below. Just look at how his face is depicted. This is just one photo of Loughner that can be found on the internet.

My second example is the case of Robert G. Rozewicz. On March 22, 2016 Rozewicz was
charged with first-degree intentional homicide in his mother’s death, which occurred March 16…after being read his rights, Rozewicz told detectives he felt his mother was affecting his life, such as having him taken in for mental health treatment, so he suffocated her in the kitchen and then stabbed her in the heart before placing her in a garbage can in the garage which he moved to the curb… Rozewicz was hospitalized five times at the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex between 2001 and 2003, and he also required psychiatric evaluation 11 times from various crisis services between 1994 and 2015, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel review of court records…Rozewicz was found incompetent to proceed in August and ordered into treatment at a state mental hospital (jsonline.com).
What is disturbing about this article is the depth in which the article describes Rozewicz’s attack toward his mother, his mental illness history and the fact that the title of the article is “Man with mental illness history charged in killing of mother.” Oh and let’s not forget Rozewicz’s photo depicted in the article.

With these two cases (five years apart) I attempted to show that the negative portrayal of mental illness is not just a problem of the past.

It is a problem as real in the 21st Century as it was in the 19th Century and in earlier history, this problem is just presented in a different format i.e. through the media. Now, you may say ok, but what is the point. To you I say we as a society cannot acknowledge the presence of an individual’s “mental illness history” only when tragedies occur. While the past and the present portray mental illness in a negative way, in the past individuals suffering from mental illness were institutionalized. Today, individuals suffering from mental illness are no longer institutionalized; instead they are living in prisons and on the street. How mental illness is portrayed in the media and in education affects how individuals within a given society views mental health. Individuals with a mental illness are what I’m calling “double suffering.” Not only do they suffer from the illness itself, but they also suffer from the stigma of having such an illness. So, why does the negative portrayal of those who are suffering mental illness matter? It matters because we as a society cannot ignore mental illness as if it does not exist. We need to care; no longer can the screaming of their minds be

silenced.
Conclusion
“There are those that are labelled crazy that in fact are teachers.” – Clementina 37,
I’m Not Crazy, I Just Lost My Glasses

“Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence - whether much that is glorious - whether all that is profound - does not spring from disease of thought...They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night” - Edgar Allan Poe

So, how does science make visible the invisible? With this question serving as the foundation of this essay I explored the boundaries of what facial features and expressions can say about an individual in 19th Century England. Analyzing changes within lunacy law and in science I argued that; (1) there is no face for “madness,” those who suffer from mental illness do not possess objectively identifiable facial features, (2) that physiognomy leads to discrimination in the form of facial profiling and to stereotyping and (3) that there is no “cure” for those who suffer from mental illness. If I had more time to expand this essay I would like to research how the depiction of women differed from the depiction of men with mental illness and if there are any depictions of people who are transgendered with mental illness. I would also like to research whether or not treatments for the insane differed based on gender. Researching how gender affected which treatments an individual received and how an individual was depicted will give me a deeper understanding of how social constructs where applied toward the insane and how the 19th Century body compares to the 21st Century body even further. While this paper presents to the reader some of the arguments I make and some of the questions I have, I challenge my readers to reflect on their own views of mental illness.