Program Overview

Madness & Psychiatry (HIST*3640)

Course Details

The course code for Madness & Psychiatry is HIST*3640, with section 01, offered in the Fall 2017 term. The course instructor is Linda Mahood.

Course Synopsis

This course explores the history of psychiatry since 1800. Through lectures, class discussions, and group presentations on topics including the history of asylums, the rise and fall of hysteria, and the development of psychoanalysis, the course examines the relationship between psychiatry and various factors such as sexuality, gender, religion, war, pharmacy, surgery, art, literature, and cinema.

Methods of Evaluation and Weights

• Class participation: 15%
• Short response on Dora: 5%
• Short response on The Bell Jar: 5%
• Group annotated bibliography: 5%
• Group presentation: 15%
• Individual proposal and annotated bibliography: 5%
• Final individual essay: 25%
• Final take-home exam: 25%

Required Reading

• Edward Shorter, A History of Psychiatry. From the Era of the Asylum to the Age of Innocence. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997.
• Sigmund Freud, A Case of Hysteria (Dora). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
• Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar. London: Faber and Faber, 1966.
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper.
• Michel Foucault, "The Great Confinement".
• Films (available at the library or through the instructor).

Departments and Schools

• School of Theatre, English, and Creative Writing
• School of Fine Art and Music
• School of Languages and Literatures
• Department of History
• Department of Philosophy
• Interdisciplinary Programs

Centres, Institutes and Labs

• Centre for Scottish Studies
• Grounded and Engaged Theory Lab (GET)
• Interdisciplinary Design Lab
• The International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation
• The Humanities Interdisciplinary Collaboration Lab (THINC)
• The School of Fine Art & Music Print Study Collection