Description
Pathologist of the Mind clearly articulates the techniques and methods of reasoning that set Adolf Meyer's approach apart from those of his contemporaries. His clinical empiricism made for a quintessentially American approach to psychiatry: inclusive and practical, but unrestrained by too many theoretical considerations. Many, perhaps most, psychiatrists know that Meyer is an important figure in American psychiatry, but usually don't quite know why. Dr. Lamb's superb book makes the reasons pellucidly clear. -- Francis Mark Mondimore, M.D., Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Lamb looked in the right place to find the real Adolf Meyer-his detailed case histories of patients. Meyer was a superb brain scientist and neuropathologist, but he was convinced that this alone was an insufficient frame for understanding the problems of psychiatric patients. The dynamic tensions which drove him to formulate his patient-centered 'psychobiological' approach are the same tensions we see and argue about in the field of psychiatry today. -- J Raymond DePaulo, Jr., M.D., Henry Phipps Professor and Director, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
About the Author
S. D. Lamb earned a Ph.D. from the Institute of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University in 2010 and is based in Montreal, Canada.
Reviews
Fortunately for anyone wishing to learn about Meyer's ideas and their influence, Lamb, a historian, has mined his unpublished papers and correspondence for the truths that became opaque when he turned them into essays. Crucially, she has also read more than 1,800 of the meticulous patient records that Meyer and his staff created at the Phipps Psychiatric Clinic, which reveal him at work as a clinician and teacher. These she presents as the key to understanding how he created an American psychiatry with his ideas at its center. The result is a tutorial in Meyer's psychobiology, and a fascinating look at patients' experiences, their suffering, and treatment in the early 20th century. -- Ben Harris PsycCRITIQUES In this fascinating study, Lamb examines Meyer's efforts to establish psychiatry as a clinical science and subdiscipline of biology... This book is a medical historian's dream. Choice Pathologist of the Mind: Adolf Meyer and the Origins of American Psychiatry by Dr. S. D. Lamb... is a book full of interesting information on how Dr. Adolf Meyer, a Swiss neurologist and psychiatrist, set the basis for modern psychiatry in the United States. -- Marina Oppenheimer Metapsychology ... [Lamb] aims to give us a more detailed and rounded portrait of Meyer's life and career, and... has contributed some valuable and original material about Meyer's early activities at the Phipps Clinic. Times Literary Supplement Pathologist of the Mind clarifies Meyerian notions of psychobiology, psychotherapy, and evolutionary theory (among others) and places this important figure, as well as the hospital and area of specialty to which he was dedicated, into historical context. In impressively detailed fashion, the book brings the man and the era to life. Cheiron Book Prize Citation Some books are worth underlining every sentence. Susan D. Lamb's book, Pathologist of the Mind: Adolf Meyer and the Origins of American Psychiatry is one of them. Psychiatric Services
Awards
Winner of CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2015 (United States).
Book Information
ISBN 9781421414843
Author S. D. Lamb
Format Hardback
Page Count 336
Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press
Weight(grams) 590g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 27mm