The History of Mental Symptoms
Descriptive Psychopathology since the Nineteenth Century

An important and unique survey of the historical background to the descriptive categories of psychopathology.

German E. Berrios (Author)

9780521437363, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 11 April 1996

584 pages, 12 b/w illus.
24.7 x 17.5 x 2.9 cm, 1.188 kg

' … a compendium to which future historians will sing hymns of praise and gratitude.' Henry R. Rollin, Horton Hospital, Epsom

Since psychiatry remains a descriptive discipline, it is essential for its practitioners to understand how the language of psychiatry came to be formed. This important book, written by a psychiatrist-historian, traces the genesis of the descriptive categories of psychopathology and examines their interaction with the psychological and philosophical context within which they arose. The author explores particularly the language and ideas that have characterised descriptive psychopathology from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. He presents a masterful survey of the history of the main psychiatric symptoms, from the metaphysics of classical antiquity to the operational criteria of today. Tracing the evolution of concepts such as memory, consciousness, will and personality, and of symptoms ranging from catalepsy and aboulia to anxiety and self-harm, this book provides fascinating insights into the subjective nature of mental illness, and into the ideas of British, Continental and American authorities who sought to clarify and define it.

Introduction
Part I. The Object of Inquiry: 1. Matters historical
2. Descriptive psychopathology
Part II. Cognition and Consciousness: 3. Disorders of perception
4. Thought disorder
5. Delusions
6. Obsessions and compulsions
7. Cognitive impairment: congenital
8. Cognitive impairment: acquired
9. Memory and its disorders
10. Consciousness and its disorders
Part III. Mood and Emotions: 11. Anxiety and cognate disorders
12. Affect and its disorders
13. The anhedonias
Part IV. Volition and Action: 14. The will and its disorders
15. Feelings of fatigue
16. Catalepsy, catatonia and stupor
17. Tremor, rigidity, akathisia and stereotypy
Part V. Miscellany: 18. Personality and its disorders
19. Self-harm.

Subject Areas: Psychiatry [MMH]