Diagnosing Madness - The Discursive Construction of the Psychiatric Patient, 1850-1920

A study of the linguistic negotiations at the heart of mental illness identification and patient diagnosis. Through an examination of psychiatric case records from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this book shows how the work of psychiatry was navigated by patients, families, doctors, the general public, and the legal system.

About the author

Carol Berkenkotter was a professor in the Writing Studies Department at the University of Minnesota until her death in 2016. She is the author of Patient Tales: Case Histories and the Uses of Narrative in Psychiatry and coauthor (with Thomas Huckin) of the award-winning Genre Knowledge in Disciplinary Communication: Cognition/Culture/Power.

Summary

A study of the linguistic negotiations at the heart of mental illness identification and patient diagnosis. Through an examination of psychiatric case records from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this book shows how the work of psychiatry was navigated by patients, families, doctors, the general public, and the legal system.

Product details

• Authors: Carol Berkenkotter, Christina Hanganu-Bresch, Cristina Hanganu-Bresch
• Publisher: The University of South Carolina Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.08.2019
• EAN: 9781643360256
• ISBN: 978-1-64336-025-6
• No. of pages: 192
• Dimensions: 157 mm x 231 mm x 18 mm
• Weight: 386 g
• Series: Studies in Rhetoric/Communication; Studies in Rhetoric/Communicat; Studies in Rhetoric/Communicat; Studies in Rhetoric/Communication; Studies in Rhetoric & Communic
• Subjects: Guides > Law, job, finance > Letters, rhetoric; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative linguistics; Non-fiction book > Psychology, esoterics, spirituality, anthroposophy > Psychology: general, reference works; Social sciences, law, business > Media, communication > Communication science