Caravan Magazine

A journal of politics and culture

History of Psychiatry

From Bethlem to Bedlam: The Dark Origin of a Word We Use Casually

A traffic jam. A chaotic classroom. A political protest gone wild.We call them bedlam—scenes of noise, confusion, and uproar.But what if we told you that “bedlam” was once not just a word, but a place—a real institution where suffering echoed…