Madness in Civilization: A Cultural History of Insanity from the Bible to Freud

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by Andrew Scull · 2015

A sweeping cultural history of madness and its changing meanings, tracing ideas about insanity from biblical times through Freud and the emergence of modern medicine. Scull examines how societies have represented, explained, and treated mental disturbance across the centuries.

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1 episode featuring Madness in Civilization: A Cultural History of Insanity from the Bible to Freud

Lex Fridman Podcast
Psychiatry confronts its history of certainty and harm
The episode asks how a field with an uncertain evidence base can treat severe suffering without repeating the institutional and commercial abuses of its past.
Sep 17, 2026 · 3h 44m

1 episode featuring Madness in Civilization: A Cultural History of Insanity from the Bible to Freud

Psychiatry confronts its history of certainty and harm