Mad Memoirs (Confessions)

[alice wellintown]

Mystical Bedlam explores the social history of insanity of early
seventeenth-century England by means of a detailed analysis of the
records of Richard Napier, a clergyman and astrological physician, who
treated over 2000 mentally disturbed patients between 1597 and 1634.
Napier's clients were drawn from every social rank and his therapeutic
techniques included all the types of psychological healing practised
at the time. His vivid descriptions of his clients' afflictions and
complaints illuminate the thoughts and feelings of ordinary people.
This book goes beyond simply analysing mental disorder in a
seventeenth-century astrological and medical practice. It reveals
contemporary attitudes towards family life, describes the appeal of
witchcraft and demonology to ordinary villagers, and explains the
social and intellectual basis for the eclectic blend of scientific,
magical, and religious therapies practised before the English
Revolution. Not only is it a contribution to the history of medicine
but also a survey of some of the darkest regions of the mental world
of the English people of the seventeenth century.

MYSTICAL BEDLAM - MADNESS, ANXIETY, AND HEALING IN 17TH-CENTURY
ENGLAND - MACDONALD,M