In the 19th century, when gender roles were more confining, the dominant forms of psychosomatic illness were paralysis and hysteria. Today, when people experience confusion about the abundant possibilities available to them, when all is permitted, the dominant complaint is fatigue. Edward Shorter's history shows how patients throughout the centuries have produced symptoms in tandem with the cultural shifts of larger society. He argues that newly popularized diseases such as chronic fatigue syndrome are only the most recent examples of patients' ailments that express the deepest truths about...
In the 19th century, when gender roles were more confining, the dominant forms of psychosomatic illness were paralysis and hysteria. Today, when peopl...
Shock therapy is making a comeback today in the treatment of serious mental illness. Despite its reemergence as a safe and effective psychiatric tool, however, it continues to be shrouded by a longstanding negative public image, due, in large part, to how it is depicted in films, novels, and other forms of mass media. Beyond its vilification in popular culture, the stereotype of electroconvulsive therapy as a dangerous and inhumane practice is fuelled by professional posturing and public misinformation.Electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, has in the last thirty years been considered a method of...
Shock therapy is making a comeback today in the treatment of serious mental illness. Despite its reemergence as a safe and effective psychiatric tool,...
