Madness Monday

What ailments were included in the definition of madness in the early 1900’s?  These days it seems that we define madness in terms of mental illnesses that are not controllable by medications, or in terms of individuals who refuse to be medicated. But I suspect that the definition was very broad in those days and was applied to anyone who had difficulty coping with life as well as those who had severe mental illness.

A 2^nd great uncle on my mother’s side died in 1925 in a state mental hospital.  Of course I only discovered this by finding him in that institution in census records.  It was certainly not a topic that was ever mentioned in the family, but it makes me wonder. Clinical depression has been a recurring thread in my mother’s family and I am one of its victims.  Was that his problem?
 
Can I or should I find out?  Hmmmm……..