 Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | Catharine Arnold |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Subjects | History of mental illness and treatment of mental illness, Bethlem Hospital |
| Set in | London |
| Published | London |
| Publisher | Pocket Books (Simon and Schuster) |
Publication date | 2008 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 306 |
| ISBN | 9781847390004 |
| 362.210942109 | |
Bedlam: London and Its Mad is a 2008 book by the British journalist Catharine Arnold.
The book follow developments in societal treatment of mental illness and the mentally ill, from the cruel days of Bethlem Hospital (often known as "Bedlam") to the campaigning psychiatrists who secured advances in treatment and changes in societal viewpoints.
In The Guardian , Patrick McGrath made some criticisms of the book, arguing "Arnold occasionally makes wild claims", but notes that the strength of the book is "the author indulges all that is quirky and macabre in the fascinating story of madness in England". [1] The Psychiatric Times was rather more critical, with the reviewer writing "Is Bedlam accurate, historically reliable, and of academic and therapeutic value? I think not", and "In the final page of the book, we discover that 'over the years, [the author has] learned to embrace melancholy', and 'some of us prefer to endure melancholy in its various manifestations and accept that this variety of madness is part of our identity. A 'Government Health Warning' should accompany this frank, therapeutic nihilism and negativity toward psychiatric treatment". [2]
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health units or behavioral health units, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialize only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients. Others may specialize in the temporary or permanent containment of patients who need routine assistance, treatment, or a specialized and controlled environment due to a psychiatric disorder. Patients often choose voluntary commitment, but those whom psychiatrists believe to pose significant danger to themselves or others may be subject to involuntary commitment and involuntary treatment. Psychiatric hospitals may also be called psychiatric wards/units when they are a subunit of a regular hospital.
Anti-psychiatry is a broad movement based on the view that psychiatric treatment is more often damaging than helpful to patients. Followers of anti-psychiatry are motivated by a diverse set of objections. Objections encompass the whole range of controversies about psychiatry. They may include concerns about the effectiveness and potential harm of treatments; for example, followers of anti-psychiatry may point out dangerous procedures.
Insanity, madness, and craziness are terms that describe a spectrum of individual and group behaviors that are characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to other people. Conceptually, mental insanity also is associated with the biological phenomenon of contagion as in the case of copycat suicides. In contemporary usage, the term insanity is an informal, un-scientific term denoting "mental instability"; thus, the term insanity defense is the legal definition of mental instability. In medicine, the general term psychosis is used to include the presence either of delusions or of hallucinations or both in a patient; and psychiatric illness is "psychopathology", not mental insanity.
Richard Bentall is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Sheffield in the UK.
Ronald David Laing, usually cited as R. D. Laing, was a Scottish psychiatrist who wrote extensively on mental illness – in particular, the experience of psychosis. Laing's views on the causes and treatment of psychopathological phenomena were influenced by his study of existential philosophy and ran counter to the chemical and electroshock methods that had become psychiatric orthodoxy. Taking the expressed feelings of the individual patient or client as valid descriptions of personal experience rather than simply as symptoms of mental illness, Laing regarded schizophrenia as a theory not a fact. Though associated in the public mind with the anti-psychiatry movement, he rejected the label. Politically, he was regarded as a thinker of the New Left. Laing was portrayed by David Tennant in the 2017 film Mad to Be Normal.
Historically, mental disorders have had three major explanations, namely, the supernatural, biological and psychological models. For much of recorded history, deviant behavior has been considered supernatural and a reflection of the battle between good and evil. When confronted with unexplainable, irrational behavior and by suffering and upheaval, people have perceived evil. In fact, in the Persian Empire from 550 to 330 B.C., all physical and mental disorders were considered the work of the devil. Physical causes of mental disorders have been sought in history. Hippocrates was important in this tradition as he identified syphilis as a disease and was therefore an early proponent of the idea that psychological disorders are biologically caused. This was a precursor to modern psycho-social treatment approaches to the causation of psychopathology, with the focus on psychological, social and cultural factors. Well known philosophers like Plato, Aristotle etc., wrote about the importance of fantasies, dreams, and thus anticipated, to some extent, the fields of psychoanalytic thought and cognitive science that were later developed. They were also some of the first to advocate for humane and responsible care for individuals with psychological disturbances.
Bethlem Royal Hospital, also known as St Mary Bethlehem, Bethlehem Hospital and Bedlam, is a psychiatric hospital in London. Its famous history has inspired several horror books, films and TV series, most notably Bedlam, a 1946 film with Boris Karloff.
Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill is a 2002 book by medical journalist Robert Whitaker, in which the author examines and questions the efficacy, safety, and ethics of past and present psychiatric interventions for severe mental illnesses, particularly antipsychotics. The book is organized as a historical timeline of treatment development in the United States.
The psychiatric survivors movement is a diverse association of individuals who either currently access mental health services, or who are survivors of interventions by psychiatry.
Maurice K. Temerlin, was a psychologist and author.
Mad Pride is a mass movement of the users of mental health services, former users, and the aligned, which advocates that individuals with mental illness should be proud of their 'mad' identity. It was formed in 1993 in response to local community prejudices towards people with a psychiatric history living in boarding homes in the Parkdale area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and an event has been held every year since then in the city except for 1996. A similar movement began around the same time in the United Kingdom. By the late 1990s similar events were being organized under the Mad Pride name around the globe, including Australia, Ireland, Portugal, Brazil, Madagascar, South Africa, France, South Korea and the United States. Events draw thousands of participants, according to MindFreedom International, a United States mental health advocacy organization that promotes and tracks events spawned by the movement.
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry.
The lunatic asylum was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital.
Bedlam, a word for an environment of insanity, is a term that may refer to:
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the psychiatric survivors movement:
Peter Anthony Shaughnessy was a British mental health activist and one of the founders of Mad Pride, a group of mental health activists who reclaimed terms such as "mad" and "nutter" from misuse, and campaigned for the rights of the mentally ill.
Doctoring the Mind: Why psychiatric treatments fail is a 2009 book by Richard Bentall, his thesis is critical of contemporary Western psychiatry. Bentall, a professor of clinical psychology, argues that recent scientific research shows that the medical approach to mental illness is fatally flawed. According to Bentall, it seems there is no "evidence that psychiatry has made a positive impact on human welfare" and "patients are doing no better today than they did a hundred years ago".
Catharine Arnold is a British author, journalist and academic, best known for her 'London' series of five popular history books: Necropolis: London and Its Dead (2006), Bedlam: London and its mad (2008), City of Sin: London and its vices (2010), Underworld London: Crime and Punishment in the Capital City (2012), and Globe Life in Shakespeare's London (2015). Her most recent book is Pandemic 1918: The Story of the Deadliest Influenza in History written in 2018. Catharine Arnold read English at Girton College, Cambridge and holds a post-graduate degree in psychology. Catharine Arnold is UK Council for Psychotherapy and Counselling Writer in Residence 2020.
Mad studies is a field of scholarship, theory, and activism about the lived experiences, history, cultures, and politics about people who may identify as mad, mentally ill, psychiatric survivors, consumers, service users, patients, neurodiverse, and disabled. Mad studies originated from consumer/survivor movements organized in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and in other parts of the world. The methods for inquiry draw from a number of academic disciplines such as women's studies, critical race studies, indigenous epistemologies, queer studies, psychological anthropology, and ethnography. This field shares theoretical similarities to critical disability studies, psychopolitics, and critical social theory. The academic movement formed, in part, as a response to recovery movements, which many mad studies scholars see as being "co-opted" by mental health systems. In 2021 the first academic journal of Mad Studies, The International Journal of Mad Studies was launched.