HIST 3711 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: R. D. Laing, Lionel Penrose, Thomas Szasz

• School: Trent University
• Department: History
• Course: HIST 3711
• Professor: Miron Janet

Document Summary

First half the 19th century there was opimism on curing the mentally ill through moral therapy. Unlike other medical specialies, psychiatry arose in special insituions: the asylum had made psychiatry. The legiimacy of psychiatry rested on shaky ground because the causes of mental illness remained unknown. Psychiatrists would emphasize their work on the body instead of focusing on the environment. Asylums were rebranded as hospitals and the term asylum would be dropped. No longer want them open to the public shit away from the focus on the importance of the environment of the paient: more focused on exploring the body blood work, etc. Pathological work is more important then social/ environmental features of the asylum. All were used and claimed to be therapeuic ranged from uncomfortable to painful for the paients: very similar to older methods, yet superintendents saw it as a scieniic treatment for insanity. Somaic means dealing with the body as separate from the mind.