Psychiatry and Its Discontents - by Andrew Scull

About the Book

"Psychiatry and Its Discontents provides a wide-ranging and critical perspective on the psychiatric enterprise. The book's historical sweep is broad, ranging from the age of the asylum to the rise of psychopharmacology and the dubious triumphs of "community care." Freud and Foucault, Christian Science and Scientology, psychosurgery and modern drug treatments, trauma and the effects of war on the human psyche, the siren song of neuroscience, and the predicaments confronting the profession at the dawn of the new millennium are but some of the issues considered here. Collectively, the essays that make up Psychiatry and Its Discontents provide a vivid and compelling portrait of the recurring crises of legitimacy that mad-doctors (as they were once called) have endured, and of the impact of psychiatry's ideas and interventions on the lives of those afflicted with mental illness"--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

Written by one of the world's most distinguished historians of psychiatry, Psychiatry and Its Discontents provides a wide-ranging and critical perspective on the profession that dominates the treatment of mental illness. Andrew Scull traces the rise of the field, the midcentury hegemony of psychoanalytic methods, and the paradigm's decline with the ascendance of biological and pharmaceutical approaches to mental illness. The book's historical sweep is broad, ranging from the age of the asylum to the rise of psychopharmacology and the dubious triumphs of "community care." The essays in Psychiatry and Its Discontents provide a vivid and compelling portrait of the recurring crises of legitimacy experienced by "mad-doctors," as psychiatrists were once called, and illustrates the impact of psychiatry's ideas and interventions on the lives of those afflicted with mental illness.

From the Back Cover

"An enthralling collection that will shock many, enrage some, and entertain all."--Simon Rich, author of Hits and Misses

"A must-read for those interested in learning about the fraught history of psychiatry."--Susannah Cahalan, author of Brain on Fire

"Andrew Scull's deep historical knowledge of the interlocking fields of neurology, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, neuroscience, and psychology give him unparalleled insight into mental health. Psychiatry and Its Discontents should be read by historians, social scientists, practitioners, and patients alike."--Lisa Appignanesi, author of Everyday Madness and Mad, Bad, and Sad

"The definitive account of the treatment of mental illness from its beginnings to the present day. An outstanding accomplishment."--Patrick McGrath, author of Spider, Asylum, and Trauma

"Scull is a master of the complex space where history, sociology, social policy, and ethics meet. An indispensable book for anyone concerned with history and health policy."--Charles E. Rosenberg, author of Our Present Complaint

"A bracing and important contribution to the history of psychiatry. I may disagree with several of its conclusions and the things Scull chooses to emphasize, but the book is meant to be provocative. It engages the reader in thinking about the controversies that attend the study and treatment of mental illness."--Kay Redfield Jamison, author of Robert Lowell: Setting the River on Fire

Review Quotes

"Andrew Scull is without a doubt one of the major names in the history of late 20th‐century psychiatry. In a period of historiographical renewal that, influenced by such authors as Foucault and Goffman, came to offer highly critical views of psychiatry--against the backdrop of anti‐psychiatry and the emergence of the survivors of psychiatry movement--Scull's work always maintained a balance, which was not always easy to hold. . . . The collection does have the virtue of offering an overview of Scull's thinking on the subject."
-- "Centaurus"

"Our most accomplished historian of madness and its treatments . . . . Scull, as always, is acute in his assessment and critique. . . . A vital and original perspective on the reshaping of mental medicine."

-- "Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences"

"This volume is a useful collection of his insights for any historian or anthropologist of mental health."-- "Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry"

"Scull is able to bring to each lively and engaging chapter, no matter how seemingly narrow in focus, a wealth of historical research, sociological analysis, and humane reflection that places each fragmentary account into a richer and more coherent historical narrative."-- "Society"

"Scull writes with style and wit. He is, by turns, skeptical, combative and passionate, especially in his denouncements of treatments. . . . Although one may not agree with all of Scull's opinions, these essays offer a stimulating and provoking account of psychiatry, past and present." -- "British Journal of Psychiatry"

"[Scull's] writing combines the structural curiosity of the sociologist with the historian's quizzical eye and interest in causation. Scull's significant corpus in the history of madness ranges from the rise of the asylum and psychiatry's slow, fitful emergence under its eaves to a magisterial study of madness in world civilisations. It provides necessary ballast for the volume's freewheeling adventurism."
-- "Australian Book Review"

"Scull's encyclopedic knowledge of American (and British) psychiatry has something to teach any reader."-- "Social Service Review"

"A lucid mixture of biography, bibliography, and historiography - a personal narrative of the shifting terrain of madness scholarship over five decades."-- "Medical Health News"

"As a collection of previously published material gathered from diverse sources, this book suffers from a certain amount of repetition; however the author has done a service in bringing it together, the writing is lively, the scandals attached to its principal actors are dutifully weighed and the scholarship is impressive."-- "Times Literary Supplement"

"From the Victorian asylum era and the rise and fall of psychoanalysis to the arrival of psychopharmacology and neuroscience, Scull chronicles the medicalization of mental illness with balance and scepticism. He is trenchant on psychiatry's failures, from prefrontal lobotomy to 'care in the community'; critical of neuro-reductionism; eloquent on diagnosis debates; and ever aware of the human suffering at his chronicle's core."-- "Nature"

About the Author

Andrew Scull is Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology and Science Studies at the University of California, San Diego. He is past president of the Society for the Social History of Medicine and the author of numerous books, including Madness in Civilization, Hysteria, and others.