Why Talk about Madness?: Bringing History Into the Conversation - Paperback

by Catharine Coleborne (Author)

This short book argues for the relevance of historical perspectives on mental health, exploring how these histories can and should inform debates about mental healthcare today. Why is it important to study the history of madness? What does it mean to voice these histories? What can these tell us about the challenges and legacies of mental health care across the world today? Offering an intervention into new ways of thinking - and talking - about 'mad' history, Catharine Coleborne explores the social and cultural impact of the history of the mad movement, self-help and mental health consumer advocacy from the 1960s inside a longer tradition of 'writing madness'. Starting with a brief history of the relevance of first-person accounts, then looking at the significance of other ways of representing the psychiatric 'patient', 'survivor' or 'consumer' over time, this book aims to escape from dominant modes of writing about the asylum.

Back Jacket

'Mental breakdown is as old as humanity, but there are, it turns out, a host of new ways of thinking and talking about it. Catharine Coleborne's book provides an expert and highly readable overview of "the new mad studies". Drawing on her career-long research in the field, Coleborne guides us through the most recent and provocative ideas about human madness... Among the plethora of books on this vexing subject, Coleborne's concise account strikes me as the most up-to-date, interesting, and the best informed.'

--Mark Micale, Emeritus Professor, University of Illinois, USA

This short book argues for the relevance of historical perspectives on mental health, exploring how these histories can and should inform debates about mental healthcare today. Why is it important to study the history of madness? What does it mean to voice these histories? What can these tell us about the challenges and legacies of mental health care across the world today? Offering an intervention into new ways of thinking - and talking - about 'mad' history, Catharine Coleborne explores the social and cultural impact of the history of the mad movement, self-help and mental health consumer advocacy from the 1960s inside a longer tradition of first-person accounts of madness. Starting with a brief history of the relevance of first-person accounts, then looking at the significance of other ways of representing the psychiatric 'patient', 'survivor' or 'consumer' over time, this book aims to escape from dominant modes of writing about the asylum and present the value of different ways of thinking about madness in history.

Author Biography

Catharine Coleborne is Professor and Head of the School of Humanities and Social Science at the University of Newcastle, Australia. With Matthew Smith, she edits the Mental Health in Historical Perspective series for Palgrave. Her previous publications include Insanity, Identity and Empire: Colonial Institutional Confinement in Australia and New Zealand, 1870-1910 (2015). Catharine is currently second Chief Investigator on two Australian Research Council Discovery Projects focused on histories of mental health and psychiatry in Australia spanning the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.