Surgery and emotion : the era before anaesthesia / Michael Brown.

Format:

Journal/Periodical

Author/Creator:

Brown, Michael, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

History of medicine.

Surgery.

Physical Description:

1 electronic resource (22 pages)

annual

Began with: 2018-

Other Title:

Surgery and emotion

Place of Publication:

London : Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.

Summary:

his chapter explores the place of emotion within operative surgery. Before the advent of anaesthetics in the 1840s, surgical operations were conducted with little or no pain relief and were attended with great suffering and emotional distress. It has generally been assumed that in order to cope with such challenges, surgeons developed a culture of dispassion and emotional detachment. However, building upon the insights of the history of the emotions, this chapter will demonstrate that the operating theatre could play host to a wide range of more complex feelings including fear, pity, and sympathy. Moreover, it suggests that any account of emotion in the history of surgery must take into account the politics of feeling and the 'emotional regimes' of the period.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.