Class and Gender in Twentieth-Century British Psychiatry: Shell-Shock and Psychopathic Disorder

Author: Busfield, Joan

Source: Clio Medica/The Wellcome Series in the History of Medicine, Sex and Seclusion, Class and Custody - Perspectives on Gender and Class in the History of British Psychiatry Edited by Jonathan Andrews and Anne Digby , pp. 295-322(28)

Publisher: Rodopi

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Abstract:

This chapter explores the ways in which class and gender permeated psychiatric practice in twentieth-century Britain. It first outlines the historical context and changing character of psychiatric ideas and practice, dividing the century into four main periods – Custodialism under attack, 1890-1929; Integration and Medical Innovation, 1930-1953; Community Care and Public Sector Expansion, 1954-1973; and Privatisation and Commercialisation, 1974 to the Present. The chapter then uses the prism of two psychiatric categories – shell-shock and psychopathic disorder to examine in some detail the ways in which class and gender are embedded in psychiatric work.

Document Type: Research article

Publication date: 2004-01-01

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