Mad travelers : reflections on the reality of transient mental illnesses / Ian Hacking.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hacking, Ian.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fugue (Psychology)--Case studies.

Fugue (Psychology).

Tissié, Philippe, 1852-1935.

Tissié, Philippe.

Social psychiatry.

Niche (Ecology).

Physical Description:

x, 239 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Charlottesville, Va. : University Press of Virginia, 1998.

Summary:

Thus begins the recorded case history of Albert Dadas, a native of France's Bordeaux region and the first diagnosed mad traveler, or fugueur. An occasional employee of a local gas company, Dadas suffered from a strange compulsion that led him to travel obsessively, often without identification, not knowing who he was or why he traveled. He became notorious for his extraordinary expeditions to such far-reaching spots as Algeria, Moscow, and Constantinople. Medical reports of Dadas set off at the time a small epidemic of compulsive mad voyagers, the epicenter of which was Bordeaux, but which soon spread throughout France to Italy, Germany, and Russia.

Today we are similarly besieged by mental illnesses of the moment, such as chronic fatigue syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The debate rages about which of these conditions are affectations or cultural artifacts and which are "real". In Mad Travelers, Ian Hacking uses the Dadas case to weigh the legitimacy of cultural influences versus physical symptoms in the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders. He argues that psychological symptoms find stable homes at a given place and time, in "ecological niches" where transient illnesses flourish.

Notes:

"Page-Barbour lectures for 1997."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-234) and index.

ISBN:

0813918235

OCLC:

38976248