'The Patients' Perspective in the History of Psychiatry

From Aristotle's claim that "no great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness" to the nineteenth-century romantic obsession with the 'mad genius', the alleged relationship between creativity and madness has captured both the popular imagination and the interest of scholars alike. Biographies of 'mad' artists, writers and musicians, exceptional creative individuals, have flooded the literary market, whilst numerous psychiatric, neurological, and psychological studies have grounded the creativity-madness debate in scientific theory, systematically documenting the clinical links between illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression with extraordinary artistic and creative production.

The historical field, too, has offered considerable potential in the exploration of the connections between madness and creativity. The relationship between psychiatry, patient artwork and the asylum experience, for example, has been explored in the British context by scholars such as Allan Beveridge and Maureen Park, whilst further afield, Benjamin Reiss, Catherine Coleborne and Dolly MacKinnon have explored notions of 'culture' within the American and Australian contexts with reference to objects, sound and performance. More recently, a completely independent field of research termed 'Mad Studies' has emerged. Led by social activists and scholars, Mad Studies aims to "challenge medical paradigms of mental illness" by drawing upon history and applying it to the present-day context. Through championing patient voice, proponents of Mad Studies seek to demonstrate that it is possible "to write a history of mad cultures" in which patients, and their imagination, ingenuity and creativity, are firmly at the centre of their own stories. Through adopting new concepts, methodologies and sources with which to evaluate the history of madness and society, increased attention has thus been paid to the ways in which patients themselves have made sense of their illness and treatment.

However, an examination of madness and creativity using new approaches to patient subjectivity and experience arguably requires further scholarly investigation. Accordingly, my PhD project aims to explore the relationship between creativity, madness and experience within the changing landscape of psychiatric therapy in Britain, examining the perspectives of both medical practitioners and patients/clients. Through an exploration of the use, purpose and experience of creativity within the history of psychiatry, I hope not only to shed new light on continuity and change in alternative approaches to madness and healing across time, but also challenge conventional narratives which dichotomise the boundaries of the doctor-patient relationship, the asylum and the community, sanity and normality. By shifting away from a reliance on documentary evidence and of stories told through a solely clinical lens, I aim to construct a history of madness and creativity that emphasises patient perspectives, experiences and expression as a central part of the story. This line of research offers a ripe opportunity for the use of interdisciplinary methods and collaboration across the arts, humanities, and even medical sciences, with implications for current debates in mental health policy.