'The cruel madness of love'; sex, syphilis and psychiatry in Scotland, 1880-1930.

9789042024632

'The cruel madness of love'; sex, syphilis and psychiatry in Scotland, 1880-1930.

Davis, Gayle.

Editions Rodopi

2008

285 pages

$84.00

Hardcover

Clio medica; the welcome series in the history of medicine; v.85

RC450

General Paralysis of the Insane or GPI, is the term used specifically for the tertiary form of syphilis in which both a physical and mental deterioration takes place. Davis, of the University of Edinburgh, examines the diagnosis and treatment of GPI at four Scottish asylums between 1880 and 1930. Combining their clinical records with articles in medical journals, she gives a more complete history than those that only rely on formal reports. The role of the alienist (an early form of psychiatrist) at all stages in the progression of the disease is stressed. While replete with charts ad statistics, Davis also stresses the human side of GPI, how it was viewed within society and how men of different classes received different levels of treatment. She also covers the development of treatments before the discovery of penicillin, some, such as mercury and malarial infection, as potentially fatal as GPI. This would be of interest to students of medical and social history.

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