Course Description
Introduces students to the history of psychiatry, from pre-modern treatments and understandings of mental illness to the development of psychiatry, psychology, and relevant developments in allied fields such as neuroscience. Though focused primarily on the United States, this course also ranges farther afield.
Athena Title
History of Psychiatry
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Students should come away from this course with a deep understanding of the historical origins and development of the field of psychiatry as well as allied disciplines connected to the treatment of mental illness, such as psychology and cognitive science. Students will engage with the materials via lectures and readings of historical documents and modern historical interpretations. Students will be required to synthesize what they have learned in essays, written exams, and classroom discussions. These assignments and expectations are designed to hone written and spoken communication skills for students in technical fields who may not otherwise have an opportunity to develop these competencies.
Topical Outline
Week 1: Theories of the Mind in Antiquity and the Medieval Era Week 2: The Lunatic Asylum: European and American Experiments Week 3: Nerves, Neurasthenia, and the Rest Cure Week 4: Hysteria and Gender Week 5: Freud and Psychoanalysis in Europe Week 6: World War I and the Shellshocked Veteran Week 7: Eugenics and Mental Hygiene Week 8: America in the Couch: Psychoanalysis in America Week 9: Fever Therapy, Shock Therapy, Psychosurgery Week 10: Psychiatry and Taxonomy: the DSM Week 11: The First Psychopharmacological Revolution Week 12: Deinstitutionalization and the Counterculture Week 13: The CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) Revolution Week 14: A Pill for Everything: Psychopharmacology Triumphant