The asylum war.

Drama-documentary based on the early 19th. century controversy between Dr. Charles Best, physician to the York Asylum (founded in 1774) and the York Retreat, a Quaker institution founded in 1796. The subject of this battle was the treatment of insane patients, the York Retreat favouring "moral" treatment while the York Asylum carried out purging and bloodletting - and little else. The film uses the actual words of those involved and conveys a detailed impression of the ideals and methods of the two institutions. The dramatic episodes are interleaved with comment by historians. Contributors include Prof. Roy Porter (WIHM), Prof. Kathleen Jones (University of York), Anne Digby (Oxford Brookes University, Quaker historian; author "Madness, Morality and Medicine), Prof. Angus Winchester and Andrew Scull (author "The Most Solitary of Afflictions").