Mad by the Millions
Author | : Harry Yi-Jui Wu |
Publisher | : MIT Press |
Total Pages | : 237 |
Release | : 2021-04-13 |
ISBN-10 | : 9780262045384 |
ISBN-13 | : 0262045389 |
Rating | : 4/5 (84 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: The World Health Organization's post-World War II work on the epidemiology and classification of mental disorders and its vision of a "world psyche." In 1946, the World Health Organization undertook a project in social psychiatry that aimed to discover the epidemiology and classification of mental disorders. In Mad by the Millions, Harry Y-Jui Wu examines the WHO's ambitious project, arguing that it was shaped by the postwar faith in technology and expertise and the universalizing vision of a "world psyche." Wu shows that the WHO's idealized scientific internationalism laid the foundations of today's highly highly metricalized global mental health system.