Madness: A History is a thorough and accessible account of madness
from antiquity to modern times, offering a large-scale yet nuanced
picture of mental illness and its varieties in western civilization.
The book opens by considering perceptions and experiences of madness
starting in Biblical times, Ancient history and Hippocratic medicine
to the Age of Enlightenment, before moving on to developments from the
late 18th century to the late 20th century and the Cold War era.
Petteri Pietikäinen looks at issues such as 18th century asylums, the
rise of psychiatry, the history of diagnoses, the experiences of
mental health patients, the emergence of neuroses, the impact of
eugenics, the development of different treatments, and the late 20th
century emergence of anti-psychiatry and the modern malaise of the
worried well. The book examines the history of madness at the
different levels of micro-, meso- and macro: the social and cultural
forces shaping the medical and lay perspectives on madness, the
invention and development of diagnoses as well as the theories and
treatment methods by physicians, and the patient experiences inside
and outside of the mental institution. Drawing extensively from
primary records written by psychiatrists and accounts by mental health
patients themselves, it also gives readers a thorough grounding in the
secondary literature addressing the history of madness. An essential
read for all students of the history of mental illness, medicine and
society more broadly.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781317484448
Publisert
2015
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
Routledge
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter