Troubled by faith : insanity and the supernatural in the age of the asylum / Owen Davies.

9780191983863

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2023.

1 online resource : illustrations (black and white, and colour).

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By exploring the beliefs of asylum patients, we see the nineteenth century in a new light, with science, faith, and the supernatural deeply entangled in a fast-changing world. The birth of psychiatry in the early nineteenth-century fundamentally changed how madness was categorised and understood. A century on, their conceptions of mental illness continue to influence our views today. Beliefs and behaviour were divided up into the pathological and the healthy. The influence of religion and the supernatural became significant measures of insanity in individuals, countries, and cultures. Psychiatrists not only thought they could transform society in the industrial age but also explain the many strange beliefs expressed in the distant past. 'Troubled by Faith' explores these ideas about the supernatural across society through the prism of medical history.

Oxford scholarship online.

Print version :

Books / Online

English

September 14, 2023

Includes bibliographical references and index.