Civilization and Madness - A Cultural History of Mental Illness

Andrew Scull takes the reader from antiquity to the present day, drawing a vivid and often harrowing portrait of various cultures' differing approaches to interpreting seemingly irrational, psychotic, and insane behavior. An intriguing, informed, and wonderfully thought-provoking history of human efforts to understand and control the behaviors we call insanity.

Loss of mind, the feeling of alienation from the world of common sense in which the rest of us think we exist, the devastating emotional turmoil that grips some of us and never lets go: These are some of the characteristics we associate with madness. Today, mental disorder is often viewed through a medical lens; However, societies have also tried to give meaning to madness through religion or the supernatural world, or by making psychological or social explanations within the framework of an effort to calm the demons of insanity. Civilization and Madness traces the long and complex history of this malady and our attempts to cure it. Andrew Scull takes the reader from antiquity to the present day, drawing a vivid and often harrowing portrait of various cultures' differing approaches to interpreting seemingly irrational, psychotic, and insane behavior. The book in your hand examines the manifestations and meanings of madness, the problems and consequences it creates, and our different reactions to it, from the Bible to Sigmund Freud, from exorcism to hypnotism, from madhouses to mental hospitals, from crime theory to modern pharmacology. It also examines how mental illness remains a specter in the imaginations of artists and writers, and explains its deep-rooted impact on fine arts, from theatre, opera and novels to drawing, painting and sculpture.
(From the Promotional Bulletin)



Number of Pages: 412

Year of Printing: 2016


Language: Turkish
Publisher: Yapı Kredi Publications

Editor: Derya Önder

First Print Year: 2016

Language Turkish