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Psychiatry: a social history

Psychiatry: Laurie Taylor explores the history of modern psychiatric practice.

Psychiatry: Laurie Taylor explores the social history of modern psychiatric practice. He's joined by Andrew Scull, Emeritus Professor in Sociology at the University of California and author of a magisterial study which asks if we are any closer to solving serious mental illness than we were a century ago. He traces the history of psychiatry's attempts to analyse and mitigate mental disorders: from the era of the asylum and psychosurgery to the rise and fall of psychoanalysis and the drugs revolution. Why is this history littered with examples of 'care' which so often resulted in dire consequences for the patient?

Producer: Jayne Egerton

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29 minutes

Last on

Mon 9 May 2022 00:15

Guest and Further Reading

Desperate Remedies: Psychiatry and the Mysteries of Mental Illness (Penguin Books)


Broadcasts

  • Wed 4 May 2022 16:00
  • Mon 9 May 2022 00:15

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