A Historical Dictionary of Psychiatry

Edward Shorter

This is the first historical dictionary of psychiatry. It covers the subject from autism to Vienna, and includes the key concepts, individuals, places, and institutions that have shaped the evolution of psychiatry and the neurosciences from their origin until the present. Among those who will appreciate this invaluable and unprecedented work of reference are clinicians curious about the origins of concepts they use in their daily practices, students of medical history keen to situate the psychiatric narrative within larger events, and the general public curious about illnesses that might affect them, their families and their communities-or readers who merely want to know about the grand chain of events from the asylum to Freud to Prozac. The Dictionary rest on an enormous base of primary sources that cover the growth of psychiatry through all of Western society.

A Historical Dictionary of Psychiatry

Edward Shorter

Description

This is the first historical dictionary of psychiatry. It covers the subject from autism to Vienna, and includes the key concepts, individuals, places, and institutions that have shaped the evolution of psychiatry and the neurosciences. An introduction puts broad trends and international differences in context, and there is an extensive bibliography for further reading. Each entry gives the main dates, themes, and personalities involved in the unfolding of the topic. Longer entries describe the evolution of such subjects as depression, schizophrenia, and psychotherapy. The book gives ready reference to when things happened in psychiatry, how and where they happened, and who made the main contributions. In addition, it touches on such social themes as "women in psychiatry," "criminality and psychiatry," and "homosexuality and psychiatry." A comprehensive index makes immediately accessible subjects that do not appear in the alphabetical listing. Among those who will appreciate this dictionary are clinicians curious about the origins of concepts they use in their daily practices, such as "paranoia," "selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors" (SSRIs), or "tardive dyskinesia"; basic scientists who want ready reference to the development of such concepts as "neurotransmitters," "synapse," or "neuroimaging"; students of medical history keen to situate the psychiatric narrative within larger events, and the general public curious about illnesses that might affect them, their families and their communities-or readers who merely want to know about the grand chain of events from the asylum to Freud to Prozac. Bringing together information from the English, French, German, Italian, and Scandinavian languages, the Dictionary rests on an enormous base of primary sources that cover the growth of psychiatry through all of Western society.

A Historical Dictionary of Psychiatry

Edward Shorter

A Historical Dictionary of Psychiatry

Edward Shorter

Reviews and Awards

"...I highly recommend [this book] for all college, university, and public libraries." --Doody's

"...have done a remarkable job of compilation and made access to the knowledge they produced very easy. In its main aims the book is a genuine success and something genuinely new."--Lancet

"As a historian of psychiatry, Edward Shorter is well known for setting out his stall in full public view and bringing a great deal of factual detail and strong personal feelings to the task at hand."--^{he Lancet}

A Historical Dictionary of Psychiatry

Edward Shorter

From Our Blog

Anti-psychiatry in A Clockwork Orange

By Edward Shorter and Susan B©langer In the fifty years since the publication of A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess's dystopian fable remains by far the best-known of his more than 60 books. It also remains controversial and widely misunderstood: assailed for inciting adolescent violence (especially following Stanley Kubrick's explicit 1971 film adaptation) or viewed as an anti-psychiatry treatise for presenting behavioural conditioning as an instrument of social control. But this aspect of the book needs to be seen within a broader context.

Posted on May 14, 2012

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