<i>Phrenitis</i> and the Pathology of the Mind in Western Medical Thought: (Fifth Century BCE to Twentieth Century CE)

Chiara Thumiger

doi:10.1017/9781009241311

Phrenitis and the Pathology of the Mind in Western Medical Thought

Phrenitis and the Pathology of the Mind in Western Medical Thought

(Fifth Century BCE to Twentieth Century CE)

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This Book has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by Crossref.

Thumiger, Chiara 2024. Phrenitis and the pathology of the mind in western medical thought (fifth century BCE to twentieth century cE). History of Psychiatry, Vol. 35, Issue. 3-4, p. 355.

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Chiara Thumiger, Cluster of Excellence Roots, Christian-Albrechts Universität zu Kiel, Germany

Publisher:: Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:: November 2023
Print publication year:: 2023
Online ISBN:: 9781009241311
DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009241311
Creative Commons:: This content is Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/creativelicenses

Subjects:: Classical Studies, History, Ancient Philosophy, History of Medicine

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Phrenitis is ubiquitous in ancient medicine and philosophy. Galen mentions the disease innumerable times, patristic authors take it as a favourite allegory of human flaws, and no ancient doctor fails to diagnose it and attempt its cure. Yet the nature of this once famous disease has not been understood properly by scholars. This book provides the first full history of phrenitis. In doing so, it surveys ancient ideas about the interactions between body and soul, both in health and in disease. It also addresses ancient ideas about bodily health, mental soundness and moral 'goodness', and their heritage in contemporary psychiatric ideas. Readers will encounter an exciting narrative about health, illness and care as embedded in ancient 'life', but will also be forced to reflect critically on our contemporary ideas of what it means to be 'insane'. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

‘A comprehensive account of the history of the concept of phrenitis has long been awaited. This monograph by Chiara Thumiger, a leading expert in the study of the history of mental health and illness, admirably fills this major gap.’

Philip van der Eijk - Humboldt University Berlin

‘Chiara Thumiger's monumental study of phrenitis is not only an astonishingly erudite and refreshingly sophisticated guide to the ancient, post-classical, and even modern evidence for this perplexing, obsolete, but central medical term for mental illness. It never forgets the human patients, in their distress and anxiety, and the human doctors who do their best to understand and help them.’

Glenn Most - Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, and University of Chicago

‘Chiara Thumiger’s extraordinary book examines the history of the disease phrenitis from the fifth century BCE to its progressive disappearance in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries CE. Its longue-durée approach and its breadth bring to mind Owsei Temkin’s The Falling Sickness: A History of Epilepsy from the Greeks to the Beginnings of Modern Neurology. The work draws upon a huge array of sources, both medical and non-medical, and deals sympathetically with the suffering of humans and non-human animals.’

Laurence Totelin - Cardiff University

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