L’autre désinstitutionnalisation: Déficience intellectuelle à l’Hôpital Saint-Michel-Archange de Québec, 1951-2000(21e – Société, histoire et cultures)

Beginning in the 1960s, deinstitutionalization — a sweeping reform movement — disrupted the organization of psychiatric services in Quebec. Long periods of hospitalization, widely criticized at the time, were to come to an end. From then on, the institution would no longer serve as a living environment, but strictly as a place of treatment. However, as the reform gathered momentum patients diagnosed with intellectual disabilities continued to live in hospital settings for extended periods. Year after year, they made up an increasingly large proportion of the institutionalized population. How did this population, whose reintegration was so long delayed, experience these years of reform? L’autre désinstitutionnalisation seeks to answer this question by delving into the medical records of nine male and five female patients at the Hôpital Saint-Michel-Archange in Beauport, a suburb of Quebec City. The author aims to contribute to a grassroots history of intellectual disability by drawing on the archival documents left by fourteen patients: Claude, Gaston, André, Bernard, Juliette, Monique, Denise, Raymond, Marie, Serge, Fernand, Réal, Marguerite, and Pierre.

Table of Contents:
Sommaire Table des matières Liste des tableaux Liste des figures Remerciements Avant-propos Introduction Histoire et déficience intellectuelle Chapitre 1 : De l’asile de beauport à l’institut universitaire Les premières décennies de l’Asile de Beauport (1845-1893) Les Sœurs de la Charité de Québec et l’Hôpital Saint-Michel-Archange (1893-1968) Chapitre 2 : L’admission à Saint-Michel-Archange Formation et dégradation du réseau de soutien Comportements problématiques Conclusion Chapitre 3 : Vivre à Saint-Michel-Archange L’hôpital psychiatrique comme lieu de traitement de la maladie mentale Le rétablissement Les traitements physiques et la sédation Le punitif Les loisirs et l’occupation Réagir Résister Saint-Michel-Archange comme espace refuge Conclusion Chapitre 4 : Sortir, Revenir et Demeurer à Saint-Michel-Archange Bernard : 1961 à 1967 Pierre : 1961 à 2011 Raymond : 1961 à 2000 Conclusion Conclusion Bibliographie

About the Author :
Hubert Larose-Dutil is a doctoral candidate in history at the University of Ottawa, under the supervision of Marie-Claude Thifault. After completing a master’s thesis on the history of the deinstitutionalization of intellectual disability, he is now exploring the broader history of this condition in Quebec, focusing in particular on the role of families.