ATS2579 · From demons to depression: A history of pre-modern mental health

Overview

In this unit you will learn how unusual psychological and somatopsychic experiences were understood in premodern Europe. You will trace the long history of concepts such as ‘possession’, ‘ecstasy’, ‘melancholy’, ‘hypochondria’, ‘hysteria’, ‘anorexia’, ‘lovesickness’ and ‘tarantism’ from late antiquity to the eighteenth century. Is it possible to diagnose people in the past with modern psychiatric conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia? And if not, what can the historiography of religion, medicine and the emotions teach us about the creation, legitimation or stigmatisation of ‘altered states’ of mind and body? Sign up to do battle with demons, fly with witches, cry with mystics, vibe with vampires, and dance the tarantella!

Areas of study: History

Offerings

The Handbook publishes no offerings for this unit.

Assessment

The Handbook does not list a final examination among the assessment items. That is not a guarantee there is none.

Within semester assessment: 100%

Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.

Requisites

The Handbook lists no prerequisite, corequisite or prohibition for this unit.

Learning outcomes

1. explain historical concepts of spiritual and psychological experience in the premodern West;
2. critically assess modern scholarly approaches to these phenomena (in the history of religion, medicine and the emotions);
3. analyse relevant primary sources and communicate their significance to a general audience in oral and written form;
4. develop a cogent written argument using relevant primary and secondary sources, showing awareness of larger historiographical debates.

Workload

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Student experience, not official rules. Nothing here changes what the Handbook says.