5 New Books in the History of Psychiatry to Read for 2018

Andreas Killen, Homo Cinematicus: Science, Motion Pictures, and the Making of Modern Germany. A consideration of the ways in which psychiatry, neurology, eugenics, and psychology contributed to how films were made, viewed, and criticized in Germany during the volatile years from World War I through the Third Reich.

Chiara Thumiger, A History of the Mind and Mental Health in Classical Greek Medical Thought. A fresh and revealing look at how ancient Greek physicians understood human psychology and treated mental health issues that also relates these perspectives to modern debates.

Nathan Kravis, On the Couch: A Repressed History of the Analytic Couch from Plato to Freud. Replete with numerous illustrations, this book explores the long history of using sofas, beds, benches, and settees for self-reflection, relaxation, and healing.

Ana Antić, Therapeutic Fascism: Experiencing the Violence of the Nazi New Order. Based on Yugoslavian psychiatric records, this chilling study reveals how many in Eastern Europe grappled with the violence and death that they suffered – and often also inflicted on others – during and after the Second World War.

Alma Wynelle Deese and Cathy Faye, eds., Nineteenth Century Asylums: A History in Postcards. As private and public asylums sprouted up over the course of the 19th and early-20th centuries, they often produced postcards for residents and visitors, and the editors here feature a sampling of over 300 images from these illustrated cards.

Greg Eghigian, PhD, Section Editor for Psychiatric Times History of Psychiatry, is Professor of Modern History and former Director of the Science, Technology, and Society Program at Penn State University, University Park, Pa. He writes and teaches, among other things, on the history of madness, mental illness, and mental health in the Western world. He is the editor and author of numerous books, including The Routledge History of Madness and Mental Health (Routledge, 2017) and From Madness to Mental Health: Psychiatric Disorder and its Treatment in Western Civilization (Rutgers University Press, 2010). He is also founding co-editor of the scholarly blog, h-madness.