A friend of mine posted a status on Facebook saying that female depressives were jailed, and treated like wild animals. How much truth is there to this? What books are available on the topic?
If you don't know for the 18th century I'm curious for other time periods and other countries too.
They weren't really jailed in the literal sense of the term. Prisons in 18th century France were used as a mean to ensure that people who were to be tried/in trial don't escape. There were not really any prison and imprisonment sentences as we know today. La Bastille was the closest as an actual prison and was mainly used to put away political enemies of the crown for a while.
People with mental health issues were often put away in hospitals (again, not really what they are today). These hospitals (for example the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris) acted as a long term residence for poor and crazy people. These establishments were really crowded by the 18th century and sanitary conditions were awful.
Now if you had a wealthy family you could be put in the care of a monastery. For a hefty sum of money, these monasteries provided a room, food and salvation to social pariahs.