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This table from the annual report of 1882 divides patients’ supposed causes of insanity into either 'physical' or ‘moral’.

This table illustrates the basic separation of Victorian mental health diagnosis.  The moral causes might otherwise be defined as psychological ones, such as anxiety, domestic trouble, overwork or religious excitement.  The physical causes were those that could be ascribed to some tangible experience, such as the menopause, drink, sunstroke or childbirth.

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