Mad Travellers: Reflections on the Reality of Transient Mental Illnesses Book PDF, ePub eBook

Join our eBook service for unlimited books & audiobooks. Get a free 7 day subscription! ↓↓↓↓↓


Book Descriptions:
"It all began one morning last July when we noticed a young man of twenty-six crying in his bed in Dr. Pitres's ward. He had just come from a long journey on foot and was exhausted, but that was not the cause of his tears. He wept because he could not prevent himself from departing on a trip when the need took him; he deserted family, work, and daily life to walk as fast as he could, straight ahead, sometimes doing 70 kilometers a day on foot, until in the end he would be arrested for vagrancy and thrown in prison." - Dr. Philippe Tissie, July 1886. Thus begins the recorded case history of Albert Dadas, a native of France's Bordeaux region and the first diagnosed mad traveller, or fugueur. An occasional employee of a local gas company, Dadas suffered from a strange compulsion that led him to travel obsessively, often without identification, not knowing who he was or why he traveled. 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 epicenter 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 artifacts 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 Philippe Tissie, Dadas's physician, Hacking attempts to make sense of this strange epidemic. While telling his fascinating tale, he raises probing questions about the nature of the mental disorders, the cultural repercussions of their diagnosis, and the relevance of this century-old case study for today's overanalysed society.

Mad Travellers: Reflections on the Reality of Transient Mental Illnesses by Ian Hacking

From reader reviews:

James Vazquez:

Why don't make it to be your habit? Right now, try to ready your time to do the important take action, like looking for your favorite publication and reading a book. Beside you can solve your trouble; you can add your knowledge by the e-book entitled Mad Travellers: Reflections on the Reality of Transient Mental Illnesses. Try to make the book Mad Travellers: Reflections on the Reality of Transient Mental Illnesses as your close friend. It means that it can being your friend when you experience alone and beside that course make you smarter than before. Yeah, it is very fortuned to suit your needs. The book makes you considerably more confidence because you can know every thing by the book. So , let me make new experience along with knowledge with this book.

Ismael Black:

Typically the book Mad Travellers: Reflections on the Reality of Transient Mental Illnesses has a lot info on it. So when you check out this book you can get a lot of profit. The book was compiled by the very famous author. The author makes some research ahead of write this book. That book very easy to read you can find the point easily after looking over this book.

Florence Williams:

Beside this Mad Travellers: Reflections on the Reality of Transient Mental Illnesses in your phone, it could possibly give you a way to get nearer to the new knowledge or information. The information and the knowledge you can got here is fresh in the oven so don't possibly be worry if you feel like an previous people live in narrow village. It is good thing to have Mad Travellers: Reflections on the Reality of Transient Mental Illnesses because this book offers for your requirements readable information. Do you sometimes have book but you would not get what it's all about. Oh come on, that will not happen if you have this in your hand. The Enjoyable blend here cannot be questionable, including treasuring beautiful island. So do you still want to miss the idea? Find this book and also read it from today!

Scott Fisher:

Is it a person who having spare time in that case spend it whole day by means of watching television programs or just resting on the bed? Do you need something totally new? This Mad Travellers: Reflections on the Reality of Transient Mental Illnesses can be the reply, oh how comes? A book you know. You are thus out of date, spending your spare time by reading in this fresh era is common not a nerd activity. So what these ebooks have than the others?