The Routledge History of Madness and Mental Health explores the history and historiography of madness from the ancient and medieval worlds to the present day. Global in scope, it includes case studies from Africa, Asia, and South America as well as Europe and North America, drawing together the latest scholarship and source material in this growing field and allowing for fresh comparisons to be made across time and space.
Thematically organised and written by leading academics, chapters discuss broad topics such as the representation of madness in literature and the visual arts, the material culture of madness, the perpetual difficulty of creating a classification system for madness and mental health, madness within life histories, the increased globalisation of knowledge and treatment practices, and the persistence of spiritual and supernatural conceptualisations of experiences associated with madness. This volume also examines the challenges involved in analysing primary sources in this area and how key themes such as class, gender, and race have influenced the treatment and diagnosis of madness throughout history.
Chronologically and geographically wide-ranging, and providing a fascinating overview of the current state of the field, this is essential reading for all students of the history of madness, mental health, psychiatry, and medicine.
This volume explores the history and historiography of madness from the ancient and medieval worlds to the present day. Covering Africa, Asia and South America as well as Europe and North America, chapters discuss broad topics such as the representation of madness in literature and the visual arts, the material culture of madness, madness within life histories and the increased globalization of knowledge and treatment practices. Chronologically and geographically wide-ranging and providing a fascinating overview of the current state of the field, this is essential reading for all students of the history of madness, mental health, psychiatry and medicine.
"This wide-ranging collection examines the history of madness and mental illness from antiquity to contemporary pharmacology, broadening our understanding both geographically and chronologically. The authors attend carefully to the specificity of each historical context with interdisciplinary approaches that draw on the history of medicine, anthropology, emotion, law, sociology, everyday life, literature, philosophy, and religion. These accessible essays provide a valuable perspective on the lived experience of mental disorder and its interpretation relevant to scholars and students in the field and beyond."
Dana Rabin, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
" (...) The Routledge History of Madness and Mental Health remains an impressive and valuable contribution to the history of madness. It has established a new benchmark that will no doubt inspire future researchers in a number of different areas of study."
Michael Rembis, University at Buffalo (SUNY)
"It is an excellent colleciton of essays, woven together expertly by Eghigian's introduction, which traces the history of psyhiatry and adjacent fields through their different lineages, and draws out lient themes."
James Dunk, Health & History
