American Madness: The Rise and Fall of Dementia Praecox - Hardcover

Noll, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674047397 ISBN 13: 9780674047396

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2011

Synopsis

2012 BMA Medical Book Award, Highly Commended in Psychiatry, British Medical Association

2012 Cheiron Book Prize, Cheiron, International Society for the History of the Behavioral and Social Sciences

In 1895 there was not a single case of dementia praecox reported in the United States. By 1912 there were tens of thousands of people with this diagnosis locked up in asylums, hospitals, and jails. By 1927 it was fading away . How could such a terrible disease be discovered, affect so many lives, and then turn out to be something else?

In vivid detail, Richard Noll describes how the discovery of this mysterious disorder gave hope to the overworked asylum doctors that they could at last explain--though they could not cure--the miserable patients surrounding them. The story of dementia praecox, and its eventual replacement by the new concept of schizophrenia, also reveals how asylum physicians fought for their own respectability. If what they were observing was a disease, then this biological reality was amenable to scientific research. In the early twentieth century, dementia praecox was psychiatry's key into an increasingly science-focused medical profession.
But for the moment, nothing could be done to help the sufferers. When the concept of schizophrenia offered a fresh understanding of this disorder, and hope for a cure, psychiatry abandoned the old disease for the new. In this dramatic story of a vanished diagnosis, Noll shows the co-dependency between a disease and the scientific status of the profession that treats it. The ghost of dementia praecox haunts today's debates about the latest generation of psychiatric disorders.

About this title

About the Author:

Richard Noll, a clinical psychologist and historian of medicine, is Associate Professor of Psychology at DeSales University.

Review:

Richard Noll's American Madness is an important book that deserves a wide readership among those interested in understanding the development of American psychiatry between 1896 and the 1930s. (Andrew Scull,  Journal of American History)

Tales of personal drama enliven Noll's story in a way that few would imagine possible for a historical account of nosology. (American Journal of Psychiatry)

It is clearly written and is based on a remarkably thorough literature search and reading of primary sources. . . . Noll's book will become a useful narrative for much of the modern history of psychiatry in the United States.  . . . The research and thinking that went into this book make it refreshing and valuable.  (John C. Burnham, Isis)

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0674047397
• ISBN 13: 9780674047396
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 408