From Melancholia to Depression

Disordered Mood in Nineteenth-Century Psychiatry

Åsa Jansson (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

XV, 234 Seiten

2020 | 1st ed. 2021
Springer International Publishing (Verlag)
978-3-030-54801-8 (ISBN)

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This open access book maps a crucial but neglected chapter in the history of psychiatry: how was melancholia transformed in the nineteenth century from traditional melancholy madness into a modern biomedical mood disorder, paving the way for the emergence of clinical depression as a psychiatric illness in the twentieth century? At a time when the prevalence of mood disorders and antidepressant consumption are at an all-time high, the need for a comprehensive historical understanding of how modern depressive illness came into being has never been more urgent. This book addresses a significant gap in existing scholarly literature on melancholia, depression, and mood disorders by offering a contextualised and critical perspective on the history of melancholia in the first decades of psychiatry, from the 1830s until the turn of the twentieth century.

Åsa Jansson is a Junior Research Fellow at the Institute for Medical Humanities at Durham University, UK. She is a historian of psychiatry, with an interdisciplinary background encompassing intellectual history, the history of medicine and political science. She has published in leading journals in her field and beyond, and has communicated her research in other forums, including public exhibitions and festivals.

1. Introduction: Disordered Mood as Historical Problem.- 2. The Scientific Foundation of Disordered Mood.- 3. The Classification of Melancholia in Mid-Nineteenth-Century British Medicine.- 4. Melancholia and the New Biological Psychiatry.- 5. Statistics, Classification, and the Standardisation of Melancholia.- 6. Diagnosing Melancholia in the Victorian Asylum.- 7. Conclusion: Melancholia, Depression, and the Politics of Classification.

"A thought-provoking read, the book draws on a range of sources, including medical and psychiatric textbooks, lunacy commission records, asylum records, and journal articles, to demonstrate how melancholia was made into a modern biomedical mood disorder. ... Jansson's work provides a timely, fresh, and important contribution to the history of psychiatry and mental health more broadly." (Lynsey Cullen, H-Net Reviews, h-net.org, July, 2021)

"At a time when the prevalence of mood disorders and antidepressant consumption are at an all-time high, the need for a comprehensive historical understanding of how modern depressive illness came into being has never been more urgent. This book addresses a significant gap in existing scholarly literature on melancholia, depression, and mood disorders by offering a contextualised and critical perspective on the history of melancholia in the first decades of psychiatry, from the 1830s until the turn of the twentieth century." (Filippo M. Sposini, H-Madness, historypsychiatry.com, March 31, 2021)

Erscheinungsdatum	23.09.2020
Reihe/Serie	Mental Health in Historical Perspective
Zusatzinfo	XV, 234 p.
Verlagsort	Cham
Sprache	englisch
Maße	148 x 210 mm
Gewicht	443 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Allgemeines / Lexika
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte
Schlagworte	Asylum Records • insanity • Madness • Mental pain • Mood Disorders • open access • Physiology • Psychiatric illness • Psychological Distress • Psychology • Statistical and diagnostic practices • Suicidal tendencies
ISBN-10	3-030-54801-5 / 3030548015
ISBN-13	978-3-030-54801-8 / 9783030548018
Zustand	Neuware