The ship of fools. Stultifera Navis or ignis fatuus?

The culture and history of psychiatric stigma in early modern and modern Western societies: a review of recent literature

This report continues a review of literature pertaining to psychiatric stigma in Western societies. It concentrates on the early modern and modern periods. The general role played by the medical profession in these two periods with respect to those suffering from psychiatric illness is emphasized. In the initial phase, its largely scientific academic perspective was prominent, and the church's influence continued but became less important. In general, it was during these two periods that the state became increasingly influential in policies involving the institutionalization of marginal populations, including the mad and insane. Many "revisionist" historians have criticized the role played by the emerging psychiatric profession in this whole process and these writings are reviewed. Overall, a complex assortment of factors are seen to contribute to an accentuation of psychiatric stigma that had its roots in the classical and medieval periods.

Psychiatric stigma in the classical and medieval period: a review of the literature

It is widely appreciated that a social stigma surrounds psychiatric illness in contemporary society. Researchers have concentrated on the nature and consequences of psychiatric stigma. Although there exists much work on the social history of mental illness, stigma, per se, has not often been addressed in historical studies. This is a review of material bearing on the question of psychiatric stigma in classical antiquity and the medieval era of Western European societies. The cultural and social factors that contributed to the development of psychiatric stigma are reviewed and analyzed.

On the significance of an anthropological approach to schizophrenia

Psychotic disturbances like those termed schizophrenia are universal in human groups. Anthropological and social historical studies underscore the varied appearance and significance of such disturbances. In contemporary psychiatry, neurobiological emphases and the exigencies of positivistic research have tended to standardize the picture of schizophrenia. This is reflected in the rationale, methodology and results of the International Pilot Study of Schizophrenia (IPSS), which have tended to support the validity of diagnostic criteria that have evolved in modern Western European societies. Thus, contemporary psychiatric theory appears to stipulate a homogeneous picture of a phenomenon that abounds with social, cultural and psychological complexity as well as human poignancy. There are reasons for challenging this picture of schizophrenia and the biases and limitations in it. Reductionistic and standardized accounts may further immediate, short-range, and practical needs, but they be-cloud academic questions having wide-ranging significance in psychiatry, the social sciences, and the humanities.