Madness in civilization : a cultural history of insanity, from the Bible to Freud, from the madhouse to modern medicine / Andrew Scull.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Scull, Andrew, 1947- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mental illness--History.

Mental illness.

History.

Mental illness--Treatment--History.

Mentally ill--Care--History.

Mentally ill.

Mentally ill--Care.

Psychiatry--History.

Psychiatry.

Mental illness--Treatment.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

448 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2015.

Summary:

"The loss of reason, a sense of alienation from the commonsense world we all like to imagine we inhabit, the shattering emotional turmoil that seizes hold and won't let go--these are some of the traits we associate with madness. Today, mental disturbance is most commonly viewed through a medical lens, but societies have also sought to make sense of it through religion or the supernatural, or by constructing psychological or social explanations in an effort to tame the demons of unreason. Madness in Civilization traces the long and complex history of this affliction and our attempts to treat it. Beautifully illustrated throughout, Madness in Civilization takes readers from antiquity to today, painting a vivid and often harrowing portrait of the different ways that cultures around the world have interpreted and responded to the seemingly irrational, psychotic, and insane. From the Bible to Sigmund Freud, from exorcism to mesmerism, from Bedlam to Victorian asylums, from the theory of humors to modern pharmacology, the book explores the manifestations and meanings of madness, its challenges and consequences, and our varied responses to it. It also looks at how insanity has haunted the imaginations of artists and writers and describes the profound influence it has had on the arts, from drama, opera, and the novel to drawing, painting, and sculpture." -- Publisher's description.

Contents:

Confronting madness

Madness in the ancient world

The darkness and the dawn

Melancholie and madnesse

Madhouses and mad-doctors

Nerves and nervousness

The great confinement

Degeneration and despair

The demi-fous

Desperate remedies

A meaningful interlude

A psychiatric revolution?

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 428-439) and index.

ISBN:

0691166153

9780691166155

OCLC:

894625483