A Historical Dictionary of Psychiatry

This is the first historical dictionary of psychiatry. It covers the subject from autism to Vienna, and includes the key concepts, individuals, places, and institutions that have shaped the evolution of psychiatry and the neurosciences from their origin until the present. Among those who will appreciate this invaluable and unprecedented work of reference are clinicians curious about the origins of concepts they use in their daily practices, students of medical history keen to situate the psychiatric narrative within larger events, and the general public curious about illnesses that might affect them, their families and their communities-or readers who merely want to know about the grand chain of events from the asylum to Freud to Prozac. The dictionary rests on an enormous base of primary sources that cover the growth of psychiatry through all of Western society.