Mad Travelers: Reflections on the Reality of Transient Mental Illnesses

Hacking assesses "mad travelers," also known as people afflicted by wandering fugue, in the 19th century in Europe. He argues that despite being a popular and widespread diagnosis for decades, particularly in France, fugue -- and the number of people afflicted with it -- have all but disappeared in the last 100 years. This historical context provides a platform for his arguments that psychiatric diseases are socially constructed.

Deceptively dense given the short page count. Heavier on the philosophy than I had expected, but a very intriguing and thought-provoking read for those of us on the social science side. I originally heard about this book in the context of Thomas Szasz's Myth of Mental Illness, and while Hacking certainly does show more not identify so far on that side of the spectrum, those who react poorly to critiques of modern mental illnesses, such as multiple personality/dissociative identity disorder, will not care for the book. I think they should read it anyway, as we should all be critically examining our assumptions at all times, but I understand that they may not care for it. show less

An interesting case study on a particular form of mental illness that existed only at a particular place and time: hysterical fugue, in late 19th century France. Hacking goes into detail about the diagnoses, doctors, and individuals involved, and constructs a theory of what he calls "transient mental illnesses" which require a particular ecological niche to emerge and thrive, and disappear when that niche does as well. One of the most interesting things to me about this book was that he addresses the question of whether or not these kinds of mental illnesses are "real," and his conclusion is, no - at least, not in the way that schizophrenia is real. He doesn't argue that people aren't suffering or that they are faking their problems, show more only that there's a distinction between this kind of mental illness and others. (Of course, this was written in 1997, and a number of the things he knows about schizophrenia are different now, too.) show less

150 HAC 1