Mad travelers : reflections on the reality of transient mental illnesses
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Mad travelers : reflections on the reality of transient mental illnesses
(Page-Barbour lectures, 1997)
University Press of Virginia, 1998
Available at 9 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
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  United States of America
Note
"Page-Barbour lectures for 1997."
Includes bibliographical references (p. 223-234) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
An occasional employee of a local gas company, Albert Dadas suffered from a strange compulsion that led him to travel obsessively, often without identification, not knowing who he was or why he travelled. He became notorious for his extraordinary expeditions to such far-reaching spots as Algeria, Moscow and Constantinople. Medical reports of Dadas set off at the time a small epidemic of compulsive mad voyagers, the epicentre of which was Bordeaux, but which soon spread throughout France to Italy, Germany and Russia. Today we are similarly besieged by mental illnesses of the moment, such as chronic fatigue syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The debate rages about which of these conditions are affectations or cultural artefacts and which are ""real"". In ""Mad Travellers"", Ian Hacking uses the Dadas case to weigh the legitimacy of cultural influences versus physical symptoms in the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders. He argues that psychological symptoms find stable homes at a given place and time, in ""ecological niches"" where transient illnesses flourish. Using the records of Dadas's physician, Philippe Tissie, Hacking attempts to make sense of this strange epidemic. While telling his fascinating tale, he raises probing questions about the nature of mental disorders, the cultural repercussions of their diagnosis and the relevance of this century-old case study for today's overanalyzed society.
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