Medical Malpractice

can anyone tell me of any good factual websites about people wrongly committed to insane asylums in history?

In my lit class we had to pick two books to read with something similar connecting them. I chose One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and Girl, Interrupted. we have to do a paper based on a thesis statement about the novels and research to back up our statement. My thesis is " According to the standards established by society, the characters are not just 'crazy', they are certifiably crazy. Throughout history, society has dictated which norms are socially acceptable and which are not. The main characters in both of these novels have become the stereotypical 'lunatic'. However, in reality, their so called lunacy is a simple rejection from society." I would like some sites that talk (preferrably in depth) about people who have been deemed crazy and/or sent to a lunatic asylum because they didnt fit what was socially acceptable at the time. ex: homosexuals, social oucast "odd" people, victorian women sent by their husbands for not being "submissive" enough or just they could gain their estate

Public Comments

1. An exceptional exhibit at the New York Public Library provides a glimpse into the book, "The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases From a State Hospital Attic" (Bellevue Literary Press), written by Ms. Penney and Dr. Stastny with photographs by Lisa Rinzler." The book chronicles inmates of Willard Psychiatric Center in New York's Finger Lakes region. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/07/college/coll07suit.html Willard, and the dozens of large long-term psychiatric hospitals like it, have long since been shut down, but some 427 suitcases, bundles and trunks of its former patients at Willard show that they had not intended to spend the rest of their lives incarcerated. For example, "Margaret, a tuberculosis nurse, owned the most suitcases and boxes, 18 in all. (Confidentiality laws prevented the authors from using the patients' real last names.) Inside were the makings of a home: dishes, pots and pans, a Japanese porcelain vase, a percolator, lamps, clothing, a bone-china teacup and saucer, hundreds of photos, her nursing diploma, citizenship papers and a pair of ice skates." Google it and you can find press releases on it too.
2. Not sure about any specific websites, but you'll find some case studies if you research shock therapy and lobotomies.