Tag: foucault

Sociologist and author Andrew Scull discusses the history of psychiatry's "Desperate Remedies," from lobotomy and the asylum to the failures of today's drugs and the fads of ketamine and deep brain stimulation.

Psychiatry is an institution of control. It is easier to keep society in check when unwanted behavioral traits can be considered pathology.

The psychiatric hospital of today is a panopticon, a modern prison for the daring mind and for weird behavior. I was once inside and thus, am inviting you to have a look. I will take your hand, and encourage you to join me, on an exploration of the inside of the psychiatric institution. We'll have a small peek, but in reality, it is much more distressing for the one who is being observed.

From Truthdig: Last week marked 40 years since Franco Basaglia’s revolutionary work in Trieste, Italy, led to the groundbreaking Legge 180 (Law 180, also known...

From Open Culture: The intellectual culture of the academic humanities has increasingly come under attack by those claiming that leftist academic work is solely focused on...

From Verso: A televised 1965 discussion between Alain Badiou and Michel Foucault, under the heading "Philosophy and Psychology," is available to stream in three parts. Videos →­

From The Nation: In two new books, Foucault: The Birth of Power and Foucault's Last Decade, Stuart Elden investigates some of the unexplored aspects of Michel Foucault's...

In this essay for Aeon, Kolin Coopman explores the impact and legacy of Michel Foucault. "It was a bio-power wielded by psychiatrists and doctors that,...

The impetus for this article is an exciting new scholarship endowed in perpetuity which has just been launched at University of Toronto. Called “The Dr. Bonnie Burstow Scholarship in Antipsychiatry,” the scholarship is to be awarded annually to a thesis student at OISE/UT conducting antipsychiatry research.

In spite of constantly increasing opportunities to tell different stories to the canonical story of bio-psychiatry, it can be risky for academics to voice a different perspective than the mainstream model of mental illness. In this conversation, a communication professor and a psychology professor discuss their challenges and personal experiences with going against the grain, such as what it means to be labeled “anti-psychiatry” by colleagues and responding to students upset to learn their medications may not be all they thought they were.

Mad Studies is emerging as a new academic discipline in Canada and proponents are challenging popular conceptions of “madness” and the medicalization human experiences.