Commentary

Articles

In the early 20th century, British and American doctors looked for the causes of mental illnesses elsewhere in the body, with gruesome results.

The Doctors Who Cut Out Your Appendix to Fix Your Head

Dr Pies is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Lecturer on Bioethics and Humanities, SUNY Upstate Medical University; Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Tufts University School of Medicine; and Editor in Chief Emeritus of 

 (2007-2010). Dr Pies is the author of several books. A collection of his works can be found on

Avicenna may have been among the first physicians to document that anger is often a transitional state from melancholic depression to mania—implicitly recognizing the “switch” phenomenon.

How Avicenna Recognized Melancholia and Mixed States—1000 Years Before Modern Psychiatry

In 18th-century France, physicians searched for the causes of mental illness and debated how best to treat it.

The Revolutionary Royalist Demonstrates the Anatomical Cause of a Psychiatric Illness 

As we slowly and cautiously work toward a practice where space can be shared between therapist and patient, perhaps Freud’s “walking cure” can be enlightening. 

The Walking Cure

Solving the problems of “troublesome” children throughout the ages.

The First International Congress on Infantile Psychiatry

An interview with Dr Anne Harrington, who offers a stimulating and thought-provoking historical perspective on the evolution of biological psychiatry from the German histopathologists to the present time in her recent book.

The Many Histories of Biological Psychiatry: Anne Harrington, DPhil

A paradigm shift is needed in order to solve the unprecedented complexities and challenges associated with the current global mental health crisis.

Convergence Mental Health: A New Pathway for Transdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Adolf Hitler, the genocidal monster of the twentieth century, would not seem to be someone likely to seek psychological counseling, let alone respond. 

Alois Maria Ott: I Was Hitler's Psychologist

Have we learned anything? Looking back at the Spanish flu epidemic as the world deals with the COVID pandemic.

The Spanish Flu Pandemic and Mental Health: A Historical Perspective

Treatment for "the scourge of psychiatry" involved malariotherapy-infecting the patient with malaria; the resulting high fevers were believed to kill off the syphilis organisms.

May 26, 1925: The First Malariotherapy Trial in Australia

Slideshows

In a time of panic, despair, and demoralization, art continues to inspire the author's reflections as it has over the last 40 years. Here, he shares some images that he finds inspirational and helpful. Even in winter there is hope.

Prevention of Covert COVID Iatrogenesis

This month in history: Determined to regard his patients as individuals, Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler sought to understand his patients and coined the term schizophrenia.

The Name “Schizophrenia” Is Heard Worldwide

Across the centuries, March has been an eventful month for the insanity defense on both sides of the Atlantic, and the McNaughten rule remains the prevalent standard to this day.

Assassins in London and Washington Force Changes in the Insanity Defense

Pseudopatients and their discontents: an historical perspective.

The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness

As historians and mental health professionals both know, in the words of the writer William Faulkner, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

The Legacy of Political Persecution

In the early years, treatment was largely restricted to restraint and sedation with great emphasis placed on fresh air for prevention of mental illness. Later, the aim of treatment was to prevent transfer of patients to country asylums.

The Opening of the Maudsley Hospital: January 31, 1923

Psychiatric Times begins a new series: “Looking Back to Look Forward: This Month in Psychiatry.” Contributors from across the globe will take the opportunity to point out both notable and neglected figures, topics, and developments in the history of psychiatry.

First Psychiatrist Accepts Nobel Prize in Medicine: December 1927

The 20th century introduced a number of new concepts to psychiatry and clinical psychology. One of the most influential has been the notion of personality.

Before Personality: Character Assessment and Its Troubled History

Telepsychiatry has its origins in the 1950s and has moved from an esoteric curiosity to mainstream practice. However, it has been challenged along the way at many turns.

The History and Value of Guidelines for Best Practices of Telemental Health

At a minimum, a mental disorder is considered an undesirable and unwanted condition either for the individual or the society. However, that is clearly very relativistic and does little to protect against social misuse of disorder designation.

History of Psychiatry

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