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

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2015Description: 448 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 0500252122
  • 0691166153
  • 9780500252123
  • 9780691166155 :
Subject(s):
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?
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.
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Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 616.89 S437 Available 33111008011666
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This hugely ambitious volume, worldwide in scope and ranging from antiquity to the present, examines the human encounter with Unreason in all its manifestations, the challenges it poses to society and our responses to it. In twelve chapters organized chronologically from the Bible to Freud, from exorcism to mesmerism, from Bedlam to Victorian asylums, from the theory of humours to modern pharmacology, Andrew Scull writes compellingly about madness, its meanings, its consequences and our various attempts to understand and treat it.

"First published in the United Kingdom in 2015 by Thames & Hudson Ltd"--Title-page verso.

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

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?

"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.

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