In Search of Madness: A Psychiatrist's Travels Through the History of Mental Illness

· Bolinda · Narrated by Ciaran O'Brien
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8 hr 56 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook

Who is ‘mad’? Who is not? And who decides? In this fascinating new exploration of mental illness, Professor Brendan Kelly examines ‘madness’ in history and how we have responded to it over the centuries. We travel from the psychiatric institutions of modern India to scientific studies of the brain in Victorian England. We discover the beginnings of formal asylum care and witness the experimental therapies of the cavernous psychiatric hospitals of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Ireland, England, Belgium, Italy, Germany and the United States. Covering lobotomy, the Nazis’ Aktion T4 campaign, Freud, psychoanalysis, cognitive behavioural therapy and neuroscience, In Search of Madness examines the shift in recent times from ‘psychobabble’ to ‘neurobabble’. This is an all-encompassing history of one of the most basic fears to haunt the human psyche – madness – and it concludes with a passionate manifesto for change: four proposals to make mental health services more effective, accessible and just.
Who is ‘mad’? Who is not? And who decides? In this fascinating new exploration of mental illness, Professor Brendan Kelly examines ‘madness’ in history and how we have responded to it over the centuries. We travel from the psychiatric institutions of modern India to scientific studies of the brai...

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About the author

Brendan Kelly is Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland and Consultant Psychiatrist at Tallaght University Hospital. In addition to his medical degree, Brendan holds master’s degrees in epidemiology, healthcare management and Buddhist studies; and doctorates in medicine, history, governance and law. Brendan has authored and co-authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications, 500 non-peer-reviewed publications, 13 book chapters and 11 books, chiefly on themes related to mental health and wellness. These include Mental Health in Ireland: The Complete Guide for Patients, Families, Health Care Professionals and Everyone Who Wants To Be Well.

Ciarán O'Brien is an Irish actor with extensive theatre, film and television experience. He has performed on stages in theatres across the UK and Ireland including Shakespeare’s Globe, The Abbey theatre and the Gate theatre Dublin. Film and TV credits include Hunted, Pursuit, Misfits, The Tudors, Ripper Street and Fair City. He recently narrated Booker listed books The Beesting by Paul Murray and Elaine Feeney's How To Build A Boat.

Brendan Kelly is Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland and Consultant Psychiatrist at Tallaght University Hospital. In addition to his medical degree, Brendan holds master’s degrees in epidemiology, healthcare management and Buddhist studies; and doctorates in medicine, histo...

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Narrated by Ciaran O'Brien