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The ‘Gaslight Phenomenon’ Reappears

1972; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 120; Issue: 559 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1192/bjp.120.559.685

1472-1465

Charles G. Smith, Kenneth Sinanan,

Political and Economic history of UK and US

In 1969 Barton and Whitehead reported two cases in which there were definite plots to remove an unwanted and restricting relative by securing admission to a mental hospital, and one case of an old lady admitted to a mental hospital following induced faecal incontinence. The old lady was considered a nursing home nuisance and she was given purgatives regularly. Inevitably she had some ‘accidents' and these were used as an excuse for removing her to hospital. They labelled such attempts ‘The Gaslight Phenomenon’, inspired by Patrick Hamilton's play Gaslight which was first produced in London in 1939 and later formed the basis for a film.∗ Their survey of the literature uncovered few recent reports of such manipulations.