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Erin Johanson

The Journey to a PhD 

I worked in the music and computer game industry doing public relations for 20 plus years. When I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), I realised that I didn’t want to work in this sector anymore. I wanted to do what I love: history, as I've always wanted to be a historian. So I quit in a blaze of glory, did a masters and now I'm doing a PhD.

My master's degree was in genealogy. I've been doing genealogy as a hobby since I was about 14 years old. I have my own business, Census Sensibility, working as a professional family historian and genealogist. I’ve always been interested in the stories of people.

I actually live in the women’s wing of a former asylum building. It is a lovely, huge Victorian building and in the 1990s it was converted into housing. I have always been interested in the history of the asylum. One day I was out for a walk around the grounds and in this little wooded area there's some graves of previous patients. The genealogist in me wanted to know about these people and to tell their stories.

The Research

I'm researching the experiences of the patients in the Sussex County Asylum at the end of the 19^th, beginning of the 20th century. I want to give a voice to the patients, by telling their stories and experiences, and that of their families. I am looking into the reasoning behind sending people to the asylum, including exploring the social and cultural aspects mental health and types of treatment.

My research sheds light on how mental health was managed at that time and we can still see the impacts of that today. The Victorians introduced significant reforms and laws to improve mental health treatment, with assessments and patient reports becoming heavily regulated. This is still seen today in the rules surrounding diagnosis, treatment and required forms.

My real-life situations influence my research. Last year I was appointed as the first pagan Chaplain of the University. As a result, I want to look at how chaplains in the asylum worked with patients and their impact. I am interested in their work with patients who were not Christian and how religious insanity was managed. 

In some cases I was expecting to find a huge amount of prejudice but that wasn’t the case: My favourite patient, Lucy Lee, was known as the Queen of the Gypsies. She was from a very famous gypsy royal family and she was a fortune teller in Brighton. She was admitted when she was in her 60s with senile dementia. I was expecting there to be a lot in her case notes about how she was a bit mad because she was a fortune teller, but there was nothing beyond stating ‘Queen of the Gypsies’. Her notes were really focusing on her physical health and how the dementia was affecting her.

I was also pleasantly surprised that the treatments weren’t as harsh as I had expected. Within the asylum they didn’t often use restraints. Their focus instead was creating an environment in which patients were encouraged to work. The hope was that these patients could then be reintroduced to society.

There are some parts of my research that are really upsetting, such as the admittance of children. The youngest was a three year old who was deemed to be insane by two doctors, but the medical superintendent at the asylum disagreed and regarded him as a normal little boy. There were also a lot of children with learning difficulties and epilepsy. Additionally, records show a large number of elderly people, normally from the workhouse, who were basically sent to the asylum to die. Included in some recorded case notes are heartbreaking letters written by patients. One man who had a mental breakdown, due to losing his job, wrote to the medical superintendent begging to be discharged as his family was destitute.

A lot of these issues are still present today. People are losing their jobs because of the economic situation and there are huge waiting lists for mental health care. A main issue for the asylum was overcrowding, as it was originally meant to house about 500 people, but had to expand to accommodate 1500 people at its peak. Despite the differences in approaches to mental health across the years, the key causes and experiences often remain the same.

Achievements and the Future

I'd say that one of my key achievements is the improvement in my writing skills. My previous writing experience comes from a PR perspective, so I originally found academic and analytical writing very difficult. When I started, I had a rough idea about telling the stories of these patients and I’ve been able to refine that as my skills have progressed. My supervisor recommended a hybrid model where I simultaneously conduct my research, analyse the case notes and write-up. This has really helped my process and allowed me to identify key themes within my research.

I've honed my ability to identify the most relevant information for my research. At the beginning I collated a huge amount of data. I'm very lucky that 95% of my sources are located at The Keep, which is an incredible archive. Reviewing this amount of material has been useful and helped to develop my analytical skills to refine my final data.

I'm really pleased with my work ethic and level of focus. Studying part time has been really great, as I’m registered as a disabled student and it gives me the flexibility I need. This has meant that I can improve upon my skills and I’m happy with my progress at the half-way point of my PhD.

As a doctoral tutor, I enjoy working with students and have learnt a lot myself from teaching the different modules. I try to break down the teacher/student barrier and create a collaborative learning environment.

Interview by Shona Clements