From the depression suffered by Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath to the mental anguish and addictions of iconic beauties Zelda Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe. From Theroigne de Mericourt, Fury of the Gironde, who descended from the bloody triumphs of the French Revolution to untameable insanity in La Salpetriere asylum, to Mary Lamb, sister of Charles, who in the throes of a nervous breakdown turned on her mother with a kitchen knife. From Freud and Jung to Lacan and the new women-centred therapies. This is the story of how we have understood extreme states of mind over the last two hundred years and how we conceive of them today, when more and more of our inner life and emotions have become a matter for medics and therapists. Here too is the story of the professions that have grown up to offer treatment, of how over the years symptoms and diagnoses have developed together to create fashions in illness and how treatments have succeeded orsometimes failed, even when those providing care were women too. MAD, BAD AND SAD takes us on a fascinating journey through the fragile, extraordinary human mind.
Mad, Bad And Sad
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Review
'A tantalising mix of polemic and history, of ideology and fact . . . A gripping read . . . In a league far above any other book of its kind on this topic'
-- Sunday Business Post
'Endlessly fascinating' -- Independent on Sunday
'Lisa Appignanesi's engaging and important study . . . manages to be as gripping as a thriller . . . [it's] both rewarding and timely. You'd be mad not to read it.' -- Time Out
'There is some wonderful writing here and plenty of sharp insights . . . Lisa Appignanesi has said it is the book she has been writing all her life. It is also, in many ways, the book we have been waiting for' -- New Statesman
In this admirably even-handed history... Appignanesi reserves her sharpest criticism for the faceless medics harnessed to the promotion of contemporary anti-depressant medications... producing impressive and disturbing statistics. -- Jewish Chronicle
The author recognises the inherent ambiguities and difficulties of the field, which speaks to her honesty; she weaves a seamless robe from individual case histories (often of murderesses or suicides), literature and the theoretical writings of psychiatrists. She has a good measure of common sense, and this lends an exemplary clarity to her prose... Indeed, I would say that it is the most readable and elegant history of the last two centuries of psychiatry that I have read.
-- The Spectator
This brilliant and often sensational read should be read by everybody, but especially by those privileged younger people - the women in particular - who have the nerve to scorn feminism... -- Sunday Tribune
[A] brilliant... fascinating journey from the French Revolution... to our post-feminist world. The appeal of Appignanesi's book - as well as its richness, fascinating subject matter, and the depth of academic research brought to life by the novelist's storytelling skills - lies in its balance... Appignanesi simply tells the story of women and their doctors, and the emergence of psychiatry over the last two decades. -- Irish Examiner
-- Sunday Business Post
'Endlessly fascinating' -- Independent on Sunday
'Lisa Appignanesi's engaging and important study . . . manages to be as gripping as a thriller . . . [it's] both rewarding and timely. You'd be mad not to read it.' -- Time Out
'There is some wonderful writing here and plenty of sharp insights . . . Lisa Appignanesi has said it is the book she has been writing all her life. It is also, in many ways, the book we have been waiting for' -- New Statesman
In this admirably even-handed history... Appignanesi reserves her sharpest criticism for the faceless medics harnessed to the promotion of contemporary anti-depressant medications... producing impressive and disturbing statistics. -- Jewish Chronicle
The author recognises the inherent ambiguities and difficulties of the field, which speaks to her honesty; she weaves a seamless robe from individual case histories (often of murderesses or suicides), literature and the theoretical writings of psychiatrists. She has a good measure of common sense, and this lends an exemplary clarity to her prose... Indeed, I would say that it is the most readable and elegant history of the last two centuries of psychiatry that I have read.
-- The Spectator
This brilliant and often sensational read should be read by everybody, but especially by those privileged younger people - the women in particular - who have the nerve to scorn feminism... -- Sunday Tribune
[A] brilliant... fascinating journey from the French Revolution... to our post-feminist world. The appeal of Appignanesi's book - as well as its richness, fascinating subject matter, and the depth of academic research brought to life by the novelist's storytelling skills - lies in its balance... Appignanesi simply tells the story of women and their doctors, and the emergence of psychiatry over the last two decades. -- Irish Examiner
Book Description
* 'In every generation there are quite firm rules on how to behave when you are crazy' Ian Hacking
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I really wanted to like this. Not only was it going to delve into the case histories of Mary Lamb, sister to Keats's friend Charles Lamb, who stabbed her mother to death in 1796 and was intermittently held in London "mad-houses" but not subjected to a criminal trial, as well as of Sylvia Plath, the enormously gifted US poet who committed suicide in 1963, but it was also going to explore on a broader canvas subjects close to my heart: women, depression and how states commonly referred to as "mental illness" have been treated in the last 200+ years.
But it was a hard slog. Not only was the writing so convoluted in places that I almost gave up trying to untangle the logic; ideas and examples were not brought together into a coherent whole or a sense of coherent overview. There were very strange moments, too: In a chapter on abuse Appignanesi writes "The ever resisted notion of infantile sexuality - which most recently has found our cultural abhorrence of its existence writ large in the scapegoating of 'paedophiles' - has continued to be the manifold structure which analysts focus on within the analysis, precisely because it so often results in producing what is called the 'negative' transference" (p. 228). Is she seriously suggesting that those suspected of being paedophiles are being unjustly abhorred because we, as a culture, cannot accept that children may be sexual beings? Later on she seems to disregard the prevalence of sexual abuse, arguing that much of it is imagined or fantasised within or without therapy. Satirising, she concludes: "Being alive as a woman at the end of the twentieth century meant to be an incest survivor" (p 416).... Read more ›
But it was a hard slog. Not only was the writing so convoluted in places that I almost gave up trying to untangle the logic; ideas and examples were not brought together into a coherent whole or a sense of coherent overview. There were very strange moments, too: In a chapter on abuse Appignanesi writes "The ever resisted notion of infantile sexuality - which most recently has found our cultural abhorrence of its existence writ large in the scapegoating of 'paedophiles' - has continued to be the manifold structure which analysts focus on within the analysis, precisely because it so often results in producing what is called the 'negative' transference" (p. 228). Is she seriously suggesting that those suspected of being paedophiles are being unjustly abhorred because we, as a culture, cannot accept that children may be sexual beings? Later on she seems to disregard the prevalence of sexual abuse, arguing that much of it is imagined or fantasised within or without therapy. Satirising, she concludes: "Being alive as a woman at the end of the twentieth century meant to be an incest survivor" (p 416).... Read more ›
26 of 32 people found the following review helpful
By Montefiore
Format:Hardcover
Long and thorough but easily dipped into by chapters, this is a great survey of specific women - from famous literary figures on down - and the medical practices and theories that bound them and defined them in different ways. While it's clearly taken on a lot of the theory of Foucault and others in its reading of history, it's not a difficult book. Though rigorous, it is less interested in a final conclusion or a theory of history, than it is in the weave of detail and the weighing of comparables in actual lives, both of the mind-doctors and their subjects. Some of the life stories are both unbelieveable and inspiring. Making difficult ideas accessible and even entertaining to read about, i recommend this highly as a very usfeul and readable survey of the field.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Charon Nix
Format:Paperback
Weak.This book jumps from idea to idea without linking them together. Critically ,for a historical text, it fails at explaining how things were , why they were such and why and how they came to change. The tone is highly uneven, at times reading like pop-psych fluff and at others as a leaden and pretentious attempt at scholarly research. It's neither a formal medical history ,saying little about the evolving "mind" professions or their methods, nor is it really a social history(as it ought to be given its title) assessing the wider impact of Psychiatry on women in particular. Come to think of it she never really justifies her choice to study only Psychology's relationship to women specifically as opposed to both(?!) genders.There is little by way of verifiable statistics and broad assumptions are made regarding the reader's level of knowledge.Disappointing.
15 of 20 people found the following review helpful
By readeroftwo
Format:Paperback
I was very excited about this book. It sounded interesting and right up my alley. But from the first chapter I was astounded by the writing. it was very difficult to read--verbose, often grammatically incorrect. It made it all very distracting from the subject matter and stories. Anecdotes were good, interesting. But the writing really detracts from quality of book, unfortunately.
By Loouisa
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
As a therapist, I bought this for it's historical and factual content, but it also contains very interesting life stories. At times, a painful read about real suffering in womens' lives. I felt sad, sometimes angry, but ultimately educated in this topic which, in one way or another, affects all women.
By L. Rowley
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have herd many good things about his book however i havent had chance to read it yet. All i can comment on is the wonedrful service which i received.
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
very liked this book, it is a very attent discussion on the issue of madness. defently reccomended to anybody wishing to study the issue
By Jo
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I enjoyed reading this history - it is well-researched and well-written. A good buy, prompted by see the author on a BBC programme recently.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A history of women's mental illness
Moving chronologically this book details mental illness in women and how it was treated throughout recent history. Read more
Published 12 months ago by KAW
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome book
Lisa Appignanesi has written an amazing book on the history of "feminine madness". It's intelligent, ironic and entertaining. A great reading!
Published 23 months ago by Carmen
4.0 out of 5 stars
fascinating topic, elegantly written
I thought I knew a lot about this subject already after decades of reading about such things but Lisa Appignanesi opened my eyes to many sad, forgotten cases of women gone mad or... Read more
Published on 5 April 2010 by Lawrence Thursk
5.0 out of 5 stars
exhilarating and informative
I loved this book. It is exciting to read a book that puts into words many of my own thoughts, views and beliefs about how women were [and, sadly, still are] treated or mistreated... Read more
Published on 20 April 2009 by Grand Ma
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Good History
A very well researched and written account of psychological pressure through the life and times of women
(Including lots of insights into the after lives of some famous... Read more
(Including lots of insights into the after lives of some famous... Read more
Published on 30 April 2008 by L. Thompson
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