Patient Tales: Case Histories and the Uses of Narrative in Psychiatry
Columbia: The University of South Carolina Press, 2008.
First Edition. Hardcover. First edition, with full number line indicating first printing. 9 1/2" X 6 1/4". xvii, 201pp. Mild creasing, rubbing, and shelf wear to covers, corners, and edges of unclipped dust jacket. Rubbing to front and rear of jacket. Creasing to head and tail of jacket spine. Very mild creasing to inside flaps. Bound in maroon cloth over boards with spine lettered in silver. Very gentle bumps to corners of boards. Bump to head of spine. Faint dust-spotting to text block. Pages are clean and unmarked. Binding is firm and sound.
ABOUT THIS BOOK:
In this engrossing study of tales of mental illness, Carol Berkenkotter examines the evolving role of case history narratives in the growth of psychiatry as a medical profession. Patient Tales follows the development of psychiatric case histories from their origins at Edinburgh Medical School and the Royal Edinburgh Infirmary in the mid-eighteenth century to the medical records of contemporary American mental health clinics. Spanning two centuries and several disciplines, Berkenkotter's investigation illustrates how discursive changes in this genre mirrored evolving assumptions and epistemological commitments among those who cared for the mentally ill.
During the asylum era, case histories were a means by which practitioners organized and disseminated local knowledge through professional societies, affiliations, and journals. The way in which these histories were recorded was subsequently codified, giving rise to a genre. In her thorough reading of Sigmund Freud's Fragment of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria, Berkenkotter shows how this account of Freud's famous patient "Dora" led to technical innovation in the genre through the incorporation of literary devices. In the volume's final section, Berkenkotter carries the discussion forward to the present in her examination of the turn from psychoanalysis to a research-based and medically oriented classification system now utilized by the American Psychiatric Association. Throughout her work Berkenkotter stresses the value of reading case histories as an interdisciplinary bridge between the humanities and sciences.(Publisher). very good / very good. Item #16824
ISBN: 9781570037610
Price: $20.00