What is mental health? This seminar examines the diversity of answers to this question across a variety of European cultures and subcultures from the end of the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century. Our focus will be on how particular communities’ conceptions of mental health informed their ethical principles, behavioral norms, and modes of social control. Topics include meditation, confession of sins, journal-keeping, and other spiritual practices; historical representations of mental illness as foolishness, madness, and melancholy; the demise of humoral medicine and the rise of experimental psychology and neuroscience; the emergence of asylums and social engineering; and the history of controversy over psychoanalytic, electric, pharmaceutical, and other therapeutic techniques.

Units: 1

Max Enrollment: 15

Prerequisites: Normally open to juniors and seniors who have taken a 200-level unit in history and/or a 200-level unit in a relevant area/subject.

Instructor: Grote

Distribution Requirements: HS - Historical Studies

Typical Periods Offered: Spring

Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring

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