The Neurological Patient in HistoryL. S. Jacyna, Stephen T. Casper Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Tourette's, multiple sclerosis, stroke: all are neurological illnesses that create dysfunction, distress, and disability. With their symptoms ranging from impaired movement and paralysis to hallucinations and dementia, neurological patients present myriad puzzling disorders and medical challenges. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries countless stories about neurological patients appeared in newspapers, books, medical papers, and films. Often the patients were romanticized; indeed, it was common for physicians to cast neurological patients in a grand performance, allegedly giving audiences access to deep philosophical insights about the meaning of life and being. Beyond these romanticized images, however, the neurological patient was difficult to diagnose. Experiments often approached unethical realms, and treatment created challenges for patients, courts, caregivers, and even for patient advocacy organizations. In this kaleidoscopic study, the contributors illustrate how the neurological patient was constructed in history and came to occupy its role in Western culture. Stephen T. Casper is Assistant Professor in Humanities and Social Sciences at Clarkson University. L. Stephen Jacyna is reader in the History of Medicine and Director of the Centre for the History of Medicine at University College London. |
Contents
The Neurologist the Tuning Fork | 21 |
Public and Private Constructions | 61 |
The Spouse the Neurological Patient and Doctors | 81 |
Public Roles of People with | 109 |
Neuropsychiatry Confronts Tourettes | 129 |
Robert Nichols and His Neurologists | 167 |
The Encephalitis Lethargica Patient as a Window on the Soul | 184 |
Neuropatients in Historyland | 215 |
A Commentary | 223 |
Bibliography | 231 |
List of Contributors | 253 |
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Common terms and phrases
Alfred Hauptmann Alzheimer's Alzheimer’s Disease American aphasia aphasic appeared behaviors body brain British Cambridge caregiver Casper clinical coprolalia dementia diagnosis discussion disorder doctors Encephalitis Encephalitis Lethargica epilepsy epileptics essays experience Ferenczi florid functional Gilles Gwen Raverat haloperidol Hauptmann Henry Head historians History of Medicine Hospital Ibid illness individual insanity Jacques Raverat Janet John Journal Ketogenic Diet Keynes Lennox lesions London Mahler medi Medical History Meige and Feindel mental mind modern narrative Nervous Diseases nervous system neurological patient neurologist Nichols to Henry Nora Barlow Northwestern Oliver Sacks organic pathology person Pete Pete's physicians plantar reflex practice Psychiatry psychic psychoanalytic psychological Raverat to Nora reflex reported Riddoch Robert Nichols Roger Cooter role Roy Porter Seligman senile Shapiro Stephen Jacyna subjects suffered symptoms testamentary capacity textbooks therapy tic syndrome tion Toby Tourette Syndrome Tourette's treatment University Press William York