Work, Psychiatry and Society, c. 1750-2015

This collection offers a systematic critical appraisal of the uses of work and work therapy in psychiatric institutions across the world, from the late eighteenth to the end of the twentieth century. At the same time it presents an alternative history of the emergence of occupational therapy. The contributions explore the daily routine of mental patients in psychiatric institutions and add the hitherto neglected dimension of patient's work to the history of psychiatric regimes, exploring whether work was therapy, part of a regime of punishment or a means of exploiting free labour. The geographic scope of the collection ranges from Northern America to Japan, India and Western and Eastern Europe. Authors engage with broader historical questions such as the impact of colonialism and communism, the World Wars and issues of political governance and care in the community projects. The book will be of interest to academics in the fields of history of medicine and psychiatry, social and economic history and sociology, and also to health care professionals.