Demons of the Mind - by Tim Snelson & William MacAuley & David Allen Kirby

About the Book

Examines the mental health interventions that changed 1960s British and American cinema

Book Synopsis

In the 1960s, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals intervened in and influenced cinema culture in unprecedented ways, changing how films were conceived, produced, censored, exhibited and received by audiences.
Drawing upon extensive archival research, Demons of the Mind provides the first interdisciplinary account of the complex contestations and cross-pollinations of the 'psy' sciences (psychiatry, psychoanalysis, psychology) and cinema in Britain and America during the defining 'long 1960s' period of the late-1950s to early-1970s.
This interdisciplinary book incorporates expertise from film studies, history of science and medicine, and science communication. The originality of this book is not solely its interdisciplinarity and exploration beyond the narrow study of representational practices - typically the primary focus of other books on cinema and the psy professions. In large part, this book's originality rests on its investigation of situated practices and interplay between ideas, expertise and professionals that constitute the fields of mental health and media.

Review Quotes

Demons of the Mind reveals the 'behind the scenes' journeys of a cycle of movies dealing with psychiatric issues and made in 'the long Sixties'. Through interviews with filmmakers, research into little-known archive material, and extensive reading of critical reception, the authors detail the lengthy and complicated diplomatic negotiations among institutions such as censorship boards and powerful individual stakeholders, with their own political agendas and/or moral principles. In this respect, the book is a true eye-opener.-- "Andrea Sabbadini, British Psychoanalytical Society"

An astute and thoughtful book, Demons of the Mind opens up the multiple ways in which sciences such as psychology and psychiatry interacted and intersected with the production, censorship and reception of film during the 1960s. The authors deftly keep cinema and science in dialogue, providing an insightful and important account of the different voices and interests at stake in representing and treating mental illness.

--Yvonne Tasker, University of Leeds

Demons of the Mind provides a definitive study of the equally complex and abundant cross-fertilisation between American and British cinema, the psy sciences, mental health and the media in the long 1960s.--Caroline Langhorst "Journal of British Cinema and Television"