Britain's Siberia: Mary Coutts's account of the asylum system.

This paper examines a pamphlet entitled Britain's Siberia. The High Statistics of Insanity Explained by a Certified Lunatic. Research has revealed that the writer was Mary Coutts and that she had been a detained patient in the Aberdeen Royal Asylum. The paper analyses what Coutts had to say about her experiences and compares this to the official asylum records and what they reveal about her inmate stay. The paper also relates Coutts' account to that of other patients who have written about their experiences. As one of the few women to have left a record of life in the asylum, Coutts' story is of particular interest.