History of Psychiatry (HIST PSYCHIATR)

Publications in this journal

• Article: William James and psychical research: towards a radical science of mind

  Alexandre Sech Junior, Alexander Moreira-Almeida
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  ABSTRACT: Traditional textbooks on the history of psychiatry and psychology fail to recognize William James’s investigations on psychic phenomena as a legitimate effort to understand the human mind. The purpose of this paper is to offer evidence of his views regarding the exploration of those phenomena as well as the radical, yet alternative, solutions that James advanced to overcome theoretical and methodological hindrances. Through an analysis of his writings, it is argued that his psychological and philosophical works converge in psychical research revealing the outline of a science of mind capable of encompassing psychic phenomena as part of human experience and, therefore, subject to scientific scrutiny.
  History of Psychiatry 03/2013; 24(1):62-78.
• Article: "De la non-existence de la monomanie", by Jean-Pierre Falret (1854) (Part 2)

  Thomas Lepoutre
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  ABSTRACT: The following text is the conclusion of a two-part translation of Falret’s 1854 essay arguing against the concept of monomania. In order to shine new light on the conceptual understanding of madness, the text emphasizes the importance of thorough clinical observations and the perspective of the whole patient, rejecting the disproportionate attention given to isolated symptoms, and in this respect his work represents a turning point away from the more traditional alienism.
  History of Psychiatry 11/2012; 23(4):488-95.
• Article: R.D. Laing's theological hinterland: the contrast between mysticism and communion.

  Gavin Miller
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  ABSTRACT: Contrasting elements in R.D. Laing's psychiatry can be traced to two kinds of Christian theology: mystical theology and corporate theology. On one hand, Laing's mystical theology combined with psychoanalytic theory, to provide a New Age psychotherapeutic account of the recovery of authentic selfhood via metanoia. On the other, his incarnational, corporate theology promoted social inclusion of the mentally ill, particularly via therapeutic communities. For Laing, as for other post-war British Christians, a turn inwards, to mysticism and the sacralization of the self, and a turn outwards, to social and political activism, were ways of negotiating with the decline of traditional Christianity.
  History of Psychiatry 06/2012; 23(90 Pt 2):139-55.
• Article: Victor Kandinsky (1849-89): pioneer of modern Russian forensic psychiatry.

  Vladimir Lerner, Jacob Margolin, Eliezer Witztum
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  ABSTRACT: The paper describes Victor Kandinsky's professional achievements within nineteenth-century Russian forensic psychiatry. A thorough review of nineteenth-century Russian psychiatry is presented, followed by a short biographical account of Kandinsky's personal life. Within the backdrop of Russian forensic psychiatry toward the end of nineteenth century, Kandinsky's pioneer innovations in psychopathology and classification as well as his contributions to Russian forensic psychiatry are reviewed. These are exemplified by two of his forensic case studies relating to forensic responsibility and malingering, which are included in his famous book 'On Irresponsibility'.
  History of Psychiatry 06/2012; 23(90 Pt 2):216-28.
• Article: Between phenomenological and com m unity psychiatry: the Comprehending Anthropology of Jürg Zutt.

  Peter Schönknecht
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  ABSTRACT: Phenomenological and existential philosophical approaches to mental illness have had great influence on psychiatric research and theory in European psychiatry (Berrios, 1992: 309). Among them, the work of Jürg Zutt (1893-1980), Professor of Psychiatry at University Hospital Frankfurt 1950-63, closely relates to the anthropological psychiatry of Ludwig Binswanger, Victor von Gebsattel and Erwin Straus. Since both anthropological psychiatry and social psychiatry are based on a person-centred approach, it was hypothesized that common roots are to be detected in what is called humanistic psychology. The main finding of the present paper is that there is a strong relationship between Zutt's concept of Comprehending Anthropology and the biopsychosocial model on which social psychiatry is based. However, it cannot be concluded from the existing evidence that the reform of psychiatric services necessarily resulted from the anthropological approach.
  History of Psychiatry 06/2012; 23(90 Pt 2):182-93.
• Article: Psychiatric case notes: symptoms of m ental illness and their attribution at the Maudsley Hospital, 1924-35.

  Edgar Jones, Shahina Rahman, Brian Everitt
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  ABSTRACT: Case notes of patients treated at the Maudsley Hospital during the interwar period provided data about diagnosis, symptoms and beliefs about mental illness. In the absence of effective treatments, patients were investigated in detail in the hope that connections between disease processes might be revealed. We analysed a randomly-selected sample of 700 patients taken equally from 1924, 1928, 1931 and 1935. Eight groups (three representing psychosis and five indicating psychological disorders) were identified on the basis of symptom clusters. Formal diagnosis did not correlate with clusters. Although there was a measure of agreement between patients and doctors about the cause of mental illness, stigma may have inhibited discussion of some themes. Psychiatric diagnosis was informed by symptoms but not determined by them. In an era before classification systems were tested for reliability, diagnosis was fluid, reflecting changing hypotheses about causation, pathology and treatment. Attributions were associated with diagnosis rather than symptoms.
  History of Psychiatry 06/2012; 23(90 Pt 2):156-68.
• Article: Psychology during the expeditions of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration.

  H R Guly
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  ABSTRACT: The psychology of Antarctic explorers and groups in Antarctic bases has been much studied in recent years, and current knowledge has been summarized in a review by Palinkas and Suedenfeld (2008). There was no formal psychological research during the heroic age of Antarctic exploration, but a number of the doctors and non-medical personnel on the expeditions were keen observers of the psychological aspects of the expeditions and wrote about them. In this paper, I describe their understanding of the psychology of Antarctic exploration. By comparing this with current knowledge, it is clear that most of what has been found by formal study was known to the explorers of the heroic age.
  History of Psychiatry 06/2012; 23(90 Pt 2):194-205.
• Article: Limited to no responsibility: addiction, alcoholism and the law in modern Germany.

  Jonathan Lewy
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  ABSTRACT: In Germany, a perpetrator had to be of sound mind to be convicted of a crime throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The criminal code was clear, but reality was not. From the moment that physicians accepted alcoholism and drug addiction as diseases of mind and body, the question of what to do with alcoholic and addicted criminals troubled legal theorists. How were judges to maintain the balance of justice if, on the one hand, a potential perpetrator chose to be of unsound mind by drinking or using drugs, but on the other, he was sick, unable to control his actions? As this article demonstrates, the legal system was lenient towards inebriated perpetrators as a by-product of the insistence of German doctors that alcoholism and addiction were diseases.
  History of Psychiatry 06/2012; 23(90 Pt 2):169-81.
• Article: Psychiatric illness and suicide in the heroic age of Antarctic exploration.

  H R Guly
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  ABSTRACT: During the heroic age of Antarctic exploration, a number of the early explorers developed psychiatric illness either in the Antarctic or shortly after leaving it. Most of these were psychotic illnesses and stress reactions. At least six explorers committed suicide either in the Antarctic or after their return. These cases are described, and possible reasons for the apparent high incidence of psychiatric disease and suicide are discussed. There are also examples of the possible misuse of psychiatric labels.
  History of Psychiatry 06/2012; 23(90 Pt 2):206-15.
• Article: Under the shadow of maternity: birth, death and puerperal insanity in Victorian Britain.

  Hilary Marland
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  ABSTRACT: Death and fear of death in cases of puerperal insanity can be linked to a much broader set of anxieties surrounding childbirth in Victorian Britain. Compared with other forms of mental affliction, puerperal insanity was known for its good prognosis, with many women recovering over the course of several months. Even so, a significant number of deaths were associated with the disorder, and a large proportion of sufferers struggled with urges to destroy their infants and themselves. The disorder evoked powerful delusions concerning death, with patients expressing intimations of mortality and longing for death.
  History of Psychiatry 03/2012; 23(89 Pt 1):78-90.
• Article: Recording the many face of death at the Denbigh Asylum, 1848-1938.

  Pamela Michael, David Hirst
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  ABSTRACT: The funeral was a symbolic event in Welsh society, and members of staff and relatives of patients at the Denbigh Asylum shared cultural assumptions about the importance of a final resting place for the body. Formal procedures following the death of a patient were governed by asylum rules and regulations. A Denbigh the asylum chaplain played an important role, both in terms of ministering to the dying and I performing the funeral ceremony. During the late nineteenth century the burial ground became a conteste space as nonconformists and Roman Catholics fought against the ascendancy of the Anglican Church in Wale and demanded that patients be buried according to their religious affiliation. The lunatic asylum became a sit for advancing the case for Welsh disestablishment. By the twentieth century, infectious diseases had become a serious concern, and the need to carry out screening and conduct post-mortem examinations resulted in the appointment of a pathologist, whose main role was to conduct biological and histological examinations to identify cases of tuberculosis, syphilis, dysentery, typhoid, influenza and other bodily diseases.
  History of Psychiatry 03/2012; 23(89 Pt 1):40-51.
• Article: Welcome release: perspective death in the early county lunatic asylums 1810-50.

  Leonard Smith
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  ABSTRACT: Deaths in the asylum could be interpreted as a sign of failure, particularly if they were related to the poor condition of those admitted, the spread of disease among patients, or the direct consequences of severe mental disorders. County asylum superintendents lamented the bad physical state in which many were sent to the asylum and the consequences for death rates. Due to limited consideration of environmental and sanitary matters before the 1830s, there was great risk of contracting fatal diseases in the asylum. Combined with the deteriorated physical condition of many patients, and the growing overcrowding, this had a notable influence on mortality. For some individual patients, death came about as a direct consequence of a profound mental disorder. Without effective treatments to confront manifestations of disordered thinking, mental symptoms might precipitate physical deterioration to the point of death, while severe distress led some to kill themselves in the asylum.
  History of Psychiatry 03/2012; 23(89 Pt 1):117-28.
• Article: 'Abnormalities and deformities': the dissection and interment of the insane poor, 1832-1929.

  Elizabeth T Hurren
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  ABSTRACT: The body trade of anatomy schools in Victorian times that underpinned the expansion of medical education has been neglected. This article examines dissection records of insane paupers, sold to repay their welfare debt to society. Each cadaver was entered in an 'Abnormalities and Deformities' dissection book. Student doctors paid fees to anatomists to be taught the pathology of insanity under the Medical Act. Anatomists also dissected cadavers to do further brain and eye research on epilepsy and glaucoma in the insane. These bodies were often dissected to their extremities. Their fragmentary remains were then disposed of in a common grave. This secret body trade and its asylum supply-chain merit further work in disability studies and the history of psychiatry.
  History of Psychiatry 03/2012; 23(89 Pt 1):65-77.
• Article: 'Those, that die by reason of their madness': dying insane in London, 1629-1830.

  Jeremy Boulton, John Black
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  ABSTRACT: Dying insane provoked 'great fear, and apprehension' in the minds of men and women. Death as a lunatic disrupted deathbed performance and rendered the victim incapable at law. This article examines lunacy as a cause of death in the metropolis between 1629 and 1830. It draws on new material from the admission registers of St Luke's Hospital, existing data from Bethlem and the London Bills of Mortality and unique biographical data on pauper lunatics dying in the parish of St Martin in the Fields. The article argues that lunacy being ascribed as a cause of death had a distinctive chronology in this period. Those most vulnerable to the stigma of lunacy at death were those dying as parish paupers and those who inhabited metropolitan institutions.
  History of Psychiatry 03/2012; 23(89 Pt 1):27-39.
• Article: Troubled proximities: asylums cemeteries in nineteenth-century England.

  Chris Philo
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  ABSTRACT: Asylums and cemeteries in nineteenth-century England were kindred spirits in the anxiety and exclusionary impulses that they engendered, leading them to be similarly exiled from nineteenth-century urban areas. They were uneasy 'neighbours', however, with contemporary authorities condemning the proximity of cemeteries to asylums on medical and moral grounds. The appearance at many asylums after mid-century of a burial-ground for deceased residents, usually located on an asylum's own estate, was often criticized on grounds similar to those raised with respect to neighbouring parochial burial-grounds. Other objections arose to the 'exclusivity' of asylum-based burials, with off-site burial arrangements clearly being favoured. One consequence was that on-site asylum cemeteries ended up being treated as unwelcome occupants of asylum estates, hidden away as an embarrassment, creating a legacy of anonymity still generating concerns in the present.
  History of Psychiatry 03/2012; 23(89 Pt 1):91-103.
• Article: 'Visitation by God': rationalizing death in the Victorian asylum.

  Cathy Smith
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  ABSTRACT: This article argues that death from insanity raised serious questions for the medical profession and for those who promoted the public asylum movement in the nineteenth century. While the medical emphasis on the somatic origins of insanity was increasingly accepted, limited observable signs of disease in the brain at post-mortem made it difficult to explain cause of death. This posed problems for a growing county asylum movement which was justified on the basis that insanity was a treatable disease and thus mortality rates would naturally decline. As asylum populations continued to grow and mortality rates remained little changed, statistics on lunacy ultimately became not the predicted measure of success but instead clear evidence of failure.
  History of Psychiatry 03/2012; 23(89 Pt 1):104-16.
• Article: Explanations for death by suicide in northern Britain during the long eighteenth century.

  R A Houston
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  ABSTRACT: This article uses coroners' inquest findings, media such as newspapers, magazines, pamphlets and broadsides, and family correspondence (all drawn from Scotland and the north of England) as well as civil and criminal court records and medical and legal writings from both countries to explore perceptions of the link between state of mind and self-inflicted death. It asks how doctors, lawyers, families and 'society' at large conceptualized, responded to and coped with suicide, questioning the extent to which it became medicalized: i.e. consistently linked with mental pathology. The aim is to square the apparently clear-cut, but very different understandings of doctors and lawyers on the one hand and coroners' inquests on the other with the more emotionally charged and morally complex ways those both close to and distant from attempted or successful suicides related to their situation.
  History of Psychiatry 03/2012; 23(89 Pt 1):52-64.
• Article: "De la non-existence de la monomanie", by Jean-Pierre Falret (1854) (Part 1)

  Thomas Lepoutre, Tom R. Dening
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  ABSTRACT: In 1854 Jean-Pierre Falret published an essay arguing against the concept of monomania, a nosological form which structured most French classifications of insanity until the middle of the nineteenth century. The historical importance of the text is already well known, since it marks the beginning of the decline of the monomanias. But the aim of this Classic Text was twofold: not only to cast doubt on the existence of the particular form, but also to reveal some misleading ‘tendencies’ or implicit ‘principles’ inherent to the Esquirolian nosology, in order to shine a new light on the conceptual apprehension of madness. Falret emphasized the importance of thorough clinical observations and the perspective of the whole patient, rejecting the partial attention given to isolated symptoms, and in this respect his work represents a turning point away from the more traditional alienism.
  History of Psychiatry 01/2012; 23(3):356-370.