For an overview of how western cultures have explained and treated insanity from its first mention in recorded history, this little volume does its job. It's a bit dry and clinical at points, but overall a quick and interesting read for anyone who likes to read psychology. ( )

A great introduction to the history of Mental Illness. He starts from the earliest time of mental illness and to our modern day. Roy does a good job of delineating each era. I learnt a lot of stories, they were intriguing. It seems that, the issue of treating the individual as a human being is important. I am not sure if this is being followed everywhere. A person suffering from mental illness might be brushed aside and thought of as a beast. A lot of people, who were deemed unfit for society were tied into shackles and removed from society.

Now, Roy raises key concerns about institutions and developments through history. Initially Religious schools handled these cases, there were some positive results, however, this segment was taken over by affluent families. It seemed that from the reading, people from religious schools might put more empathy, serving people as a part of their life. This may not be necessarily true in all cases, but there's more possibility of them being better. Initially, treating these people were secretive, but after 1800's Psychiatry started to enter public domain as a credible employment. He seems to suggest the Moral therapy was successful in America in the beginning of 1800's but by the end of the century, Psychologists became more interested in the disease than patient. One thing, which I was surprised to learn is that in, every progress in this field, there's a philosophical backbone presupposed, for example: John Locke provided the lockean thinking sets for rationalizing illness, Darwin influenced Freud.

Overall, a great read.

Deus Vult
Gottfried

( )

A great introduction to the history of Mental Illness. He starts from the earliest time of mental illness and to our modern day. Roy does a good job of delineating each era. I learnt a lot of stories, they were intriguing. It seems that, the issue of treating the individual as a human being is important. I am not sure if this is being followed everywhere. A person suffering from mental illness might be brushed aside and thought of as a beast. A lot of people, who were deemed unfit for society were tied into shackles and removed from society.

Now, Roy raises key concerns about institutions and developments through history. Initially Religious schools handled these cases, there were some positive results, however, this segment was taken over by affluent families. It seemed that from the reading, people from religious schools might put more empathy, serving people as a part of their life. This may not be necessarily true in all cases, but there's more possibility of them being better. Initially, treating these people were secretive, but after 1800's Psychiatry started to enter public domain as a credible employment. He seems to suggest the Moral therapy was successful in America in the beginning of 1800's but by the end of the century, Psychologists became more interested in the disease than patient. One thing, which I was surprised to learn is that in, every progress in this field, there's a philosophical backbone presupposed, for example: John Locke provided the lockean thinking sets for rationalizing illness, Darwin influenced Freud.

Overall, a great read.

Deus Vult
Gottfried

( )

This is good if you want to be able to converse on the history of psychiatry and don't have the time or inclination to read a thicker book or several books. It covers all the important points and I found it very readable, but it's very short, and the author had to rush through everything. People who read many psychology/psychiatry books (like me) probably won't learn anything new. ( )

This book was certainly a brief history. Short and informative, it wasn't exactly what I was looking for to read. I was hoping it would focus on the history of the treatment and institutions, but it was mainly about the history and development of psychology. Still, probably a good place to start.

Experiments in Reading ( )