This compelling book brings together many of the major papers published by Andrew Scull in the history of psychiatry over the past decade and a half.

Examining some of the major substantive debates in the field from the eighteenth century to the present, the historiographic essays provide a critical perspective on such major figures as Michel Foucault, Roy Porter and Edward Shorter.

Chapters on psychiatric therapeutics and on the shifting social responses to madness over a period of almost three centuries add to a comprehensive assessment of Anglo-American confrontations...

The U.S. Surgeon General's report on mental health notes "Surveys estimate that during a 1-year period, 22 to 23 percent of the U.S. adult population--or 44 million people--have diagnosable mental disorders, according the reliable, established criteria." The report goes on to say, "epidemiological estimates have shifted over time because of changes in the definitions and diagnosis of mental health and mental illness." Indeed, some experts believe there has been an astonishing rise in mental illness. According to one report, "in 1987, prior to Prozac hitting the market and the current...