Graduate Workshop-Second Fall Session

HAPSAT Graduate Workshops

"Sooner or later, most of us get hooked":

The Role of Self-Help Literature in Popularizing Psychiatric Thinking and Treatment in America

In-person event- Wednesday, November 6, 2024 - Noon to 1:30 p.m.

VC303

In 1930 the psychiatrist Karl Menninger published The Human Mind, a book he hoped would educate the American public on psychiatry. Drawing on a decade of experience, The Human Mind presented readers with an overview of what psychiatrists had uncovered about human behavior, thoughts, and emotions, cautioning them that maladjustments in these areas of their day-to-day life could lead to or were symptoms of mental disorders. This presentation explores how Menninger’s book functioned as both a professional and therapeutic tool. Written at a time when psychiatrists were reforming their profession, The Human Mind translated psychiatric knowledge for a non-expert audience and aimed to legitimate the utility of psychiatry for treating mental disorders and addressing everyday problems. At the same time, the book provided over 400 psychiatric case studies to instruct readers on the causes, symptoms, prevention, and treatments of mental disorders so they could understand and care for themselves. An analysis of the content and guidance Menninger provided his readers will demonstrate how he pathologized certain behaviors, thoughts, emotions, relationships and experiences while normalizing others as standards of good mental health. Furthermore, using correspondence and popular book reviews, this presentation examines to what extent Menninger’s proposed professional purview and therapeutic recommendations were accepted, rejected, or adapted by readers. Uncovering what aspects of The Human Mind were utilized, disregarded, and modified will illuminate how Americans came to regard problems in their day-to-day lives as issues requiring psychiatric intervention and consequently turned to the professional expertise of psychiatrists for guidance.

Graduate Student Workshop Organizer: Silvia Castillo Vergara

Save the date for the next workshop on December 4