Writing the history of psychiatry in the 20th century

As editors of the special issue, we try to summarize here the historiographic trends of the field. We argue that the field of research is accommodating the diversity of the institutional, social and political developments. But there is no narrative in sight which can explain the psychiatry of the 20...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:History of psychiatry 2011-06, Vol.22 (2), p.139-145
Main Authors: Hess, Volker, Majerus, Benoît
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Historiography
History of medicine and histology
History, 19th Century
History, 20th Century
Psychiatry - history
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:As editors of the special issue, we try to summarize here the historiographic trends of the field. We argue that the field of research is accommodating the diversity of the institutional, social and political developments. But there is no narrative in sight which can explain the psychiatry of the 20th century, comparable to the authoritative coherence achieved for the 19th century. In contrast, the efforts to extend these narratives to the 20th century are largely missing the most impressive transformation of psychiatric treatment — and self-definition.
ISSN:0957-154X
1740-2360
DOI:10.1177/0957154X11404791