UCL Health Humanities Centre

UCL Health Humanities Centre /British Psychological Society History of Psychological Disciplines Seminar Series

Madness in Paris, Paris in Madness: The City, Emotions and the Insane at the Dawn of Mass Society.

Professor Jean-Jacques Courtine (University of Auckland, New Zealand/Queen Mary, University of London)

Paris in the last quarter of the 19th century… With the accelerated urbanisation of the capital city and the massive growth in its population, new anxieties emerge. Alcoholism is rampant, degeneracy lies in wait. “Are there not more madmen today than at any other time?” worries among many others Dr Paul Garnier in his Madness in Paris (1890). He is well-placed to answer his own question: Garnier is Chief Medical Officer of the Special Infirmary at the police headquarters’ holding cells, to which the bad, the mad and the sad scooped up from the pavements of the capital are transported. And the response is in the affirmative: the crowding of the city by dense and floating masses of anonymous individuals has unleashed previously unknown forms of urban madness. The city therefore produces madness, observed, transcribed, identified, and classified by psychiatry. We could stop here, seeing nothing more in it than a classic episode in the long history of the control of the insane. But there is another way of reading this picture of urban misery, whose language is scrupulously documented in the psychiatric reports; that is, from the perspective of a history of emotions “from below”, hearing in it the voices of these lost souls. Then a different city reveals itself. For if cities engender madness, madness produces cities: a coherent image of the capital emerges from these delusions. It possesses its own geography, its own monumentality, its own landmarks; but also its own itineraries, its own lines of flight, its own meanderings. It will be one of the goals of this presentation to reconstruct madscapes, the mapping of the Paris of the mad. And to wonder: all things considered, is this Paris of the deluded really any stranger than the delusional Paris invented by mass urban society?

Event to be held at the following time, date and location:

Monday, 19 November 2018 from 18:00 to 19:30 (GMT)

UCL SELCS Common Room, Foster Court (ground floor, G24), Malet Place
Malet Place
WC1E London
United Kingdom

Madness in Paris, Paris in Madness UCL Health Humanities Centre /British Psychological Society History of Psychological Disciplines Seminar Series Madness in Paris, Paris in Madness: The City, Emotions and the Insane at the Dawn of Mass Society. Professor Jean-Jacques Courtine (University of Auckland, New Zealand/Queen Mary, Universi...

EUROPEAN JUNG HISTORY CONFERENCE 2018
Event to be held at the following time, date and location:

Saturday, 22 September 2018 from 11:00 to 18:00 (BST)

Institute of Advanced Studies Common Ground, Room G11, Ground Floor, South Wing, Wilkins Building.
UCL, Gower Street, London WC1
United Kingdom

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This conference is the third in a series of a meetings drawing together scholars working at a doctoral and post-doctoral level undertaking historical research on Jung and the history of analytical psychology in Europe, principally at UCL and at the University of Strasbourg, foregrounding current work in the field, and marks the launch of Phanês: Journal for Jung History, a newonline multilingual journal.Jointly organised by the UCL Health Humanities Centre and the Department of German Studies, University of Strasbourg and supported by UCL’s Global Engagement Office.11.00am-11.15am Registration11.15am-11.30am Introductions, Professor Sonu Shamdasani (UCL), Professor Christine Maillard (University of Strasbourg)11.30am-1.00pm Chair: Professor Christine Maillard Dr. Florent Serina (Le Mans University) “New Documents on the Genesis of Jung's Transformations and Symbols of the Libido”Anna Dadaian (UCL) “Jung's Typology as a Pluralistic Philosophy of Psychology”Tommaso Priviero (UCL) “A Short History of the Esoteric Reading of Dante’s Commedia (and Jung’s place in it)”1.00pm-2.30pm Lunch2.30pm-4.00pm Chair: Professor Sonu ShamdasaniArmelle Line Peltier (University of Strasbourg): “Jung’s Discourse on Science and Ways of Knowing in Liber Novus: From Izdubar to Philemon”Gaia Domenici (UCL): “‘Must Gold Prove its Necessity?’ Teaching and Imitation in Liber Novus”Alessio De Fiori (University of Strasbourg): “Jung and the ‘Schwärmerei’”[enthusiasts, ravers, fanatics] 4.00pm-4.30pm: Tea4.30pm-5.30pm Chair: Dr. Ernst Falzeder (UCL)Quentin Schaller (University of Strasbourg): “Jung’s alleged Madness: From Mythopoeia to Mythologisation”Dr. Matei Iagher (UCL) “John Weir Perry: Madness and the Psychology of Religion”5.30pm-5.45pm Presentation of Phanês: Journal for Jung History

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UCL/British Psychological Society History of the Psychological Disciplines Seminar Series

Monday 25 June 2018

Inventing Traditions: Psychiatric Knowledge in North India, 1900-1950s Dr. Shilpi Rajpal, (New Delhi)

Psychotherapy as a term was translated as Prāṇa Ćikitsā or life’s cure in select Hindi medical literature. It was believed that bodily health and mental strength when aligned to psychic force could cure many mental and physical diseases without medicines. The power of the mind was considered quintessential to cure bodily illness and the strength of bodily health was regarded as imperative to heal mental diseases. Man’s hidden power called vim power or vital force had to be regulated or harnessed for the betterment of human life. This elevated and holistic meaning of mind/body relationship drew symbology and terminology from Ayurveda and mesmeristic/ hypnotistic traditions. Psychotherapy or mental healing was thus believed to have a potential to cure innumerable known and unknown diseases. The meaning of psychotherapy was altered, upraised and appropriated by the vaidyas during the first half of twentieth century. Unmāda or severe psychiatric condition in Ayurveda was understood as originating due to imbalances of three basic dośa or elements. The circulation of western medical knowledge and ideas led to the reshaping of the basic concepts of mental illness. This paper throws light on how insanity and its cures were reconceptualised in the Hindi medical literature and how Western and Eastern notions of mind/body dichotomy were integrated. It will also delve into certain psycho-sexual pathologies that emerged during the period. Nationalistic medical acquisitions of psychiatric diseases often reflect gendered bias, communal hostilities and fears of degeneration. The bodies of the Self/Other were reformulated in the discourses of mental illnesses. The paper will examine selected books, magazines and literature that re-imagined the meaning of psychiatric illness and its cures. Tickets/registration: https://inventing-traditions.eventbrite.co.uk

Time: 6pm to 7.30 pm. Location: SELCS Common Room (G24), Foster Court, Malet Place, UCL.

Inventing Traditions: Psychiatric Knowledge in North India, 1900-1950s Inventing Traditions: Psychiatric Knowledge in North India, 1900-1950s Dr. Shilpi Rajpal, (New Delhi) Psychotherapy as a term was translated as Prāṇa Ćikitsā or life’s cure in select Hindi medical literature. It was believed that bodily health and mental strength when aligned to psychic force...

UCL Health Humanities Centre/Institute of Advanced Studies

Monday 4 June 2018

From Shock Therapeutics to Trauma, to Post-Traumatic Growth: A Longue Durée History of the Shock Metaphor in Medicine, Psychology, and Philosophy

Professor Ulrich Koch (George Washington University)

Since the middle decades of the 19th century, physicians, psychologists, and philosophers have described traumatic experience in terms of shock. In this talk, I retrace the circulation of the shock metaphor in different disciplines over time. This history reveals, I argue, the changing, often contradictory ends to which the notion of shock was employed and how trauma, in the 20th century, could become a category that was embraced by experimental stress researchers as well as by positivism’s most ardent critics in philosophy.

Organiser: Professor Sonu Shamdasani (UCL)

All welcome
Tickets/registration: https://from-schock-to-trauma.eventbrite.co.uk

Time: 6pm to 7.30 pm.
Location: SELCS Common Room (G24), Foster Court, Malet Place, UCL.

From the Torrington Place entrance to UCL, enter the campus on Malet Place. After fifty metres, you will find Foser court on the right hand side. Turn right under the underpass, and enter via the second door on the right. The common room is straight
ahead.

From Shock Therapeutics to Trauma, to Post-Traumatic Growth: A History From Shock Therapeutics to Trauma, to Post-Traumatic Growth: A Longue Durée History of the Shock Metaphor in Medicine, Psychology, and Philosophy Professor Ulrich Koch (George Washington University) Since the middle decades of the 19th century, physicians, psychologists, and philosophers have descr...

Upcoming event!!

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Monday 21 May 2018

Analytical Psychology through the Prism of ‘Latin Clarity’: A History of C. G. Jung’s Reception in France in the 20th century

Dr. Florent Serina (Le Mans Université - TEMOS).

How did Jung become French? For many decades, the rate at which Jung’s works appeared in French was remarkably sluggish, and many significant works still await translation. France has generally been considered of the most Freudian countries in the world, so it is not surprising that analytical psychology did not meet with the success that Jung had personally hoped for. However, it did have far more impact than has hitherto been realised. This talk focusses on the French translations of his work, recounting the different phases and issues of this history, from his first articles published with the support of Théodore Flournoy and Édouard Claparède in Geneva to the publication of a series of books under the supervision of his main Parisian disciple, Roland Cahen.


Location: SELCS Common Room (G24), Foster Court, Malet Place, UCL.

Next Monday 30th April... 6pm... Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre, Main Building, UCL.... be there!


Jung, Psychology and Alchemy

Professor Peter Forshaw (University of Amsterdam)

This paper discusses C. G. Jung’s fascination with the art of alchemy. We shall look at some of the diverse theories and practices that lie behind the monolithic term ‘alchemy’; at the appeal of this ‘hermetic philosophy’ to Jung for the support and development of his psychology, his notion of alchemy as the historical link between ancient gnosis and the modern psychology of the unconscious; and his argument that it acted ‘like an undercurrent to the Christianity that ruled on the surface.’ We shall examine some of the alchemical works from which he drew inspiration and meet some of the authorities (Hermes Trismegistus, Paracelsus, Dorn, Khunrath) who were influential figures not only in the history of alchemy but also in his psychology.

Time: 6pm to 7.30 pm.
Location: Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre, Main Building, UCL

Health and Humanities MA Politics, Philosophy and Economics of Health virtual event, Tuesday 21st February, 4.30-5.30pm.

The Health Humanities MA explores novel ways of understanding health and illness in society, and how methods from the humanities and social studies may be brought to bear on biomedicine, clinical practice, and the politics of healthcare. Experiences and portrayals of health and illness in literature, film and contemporary culture are also studied.

The Philosophy, Politics and Economics of Health MA aims to equip students with the skills necessary to play an informed role in debates concerning distributive justice and health. It explores the central ethical, economic and political problems facing health policy in the UK and globally, especially in relation to social justice.

You will also have the chance to engage in chat sessions with the convenors of both Masters programmes and have the opportunity to get answers and insights into what its like to study these programmes at UCL.

Once you have registered, you will receive a link to login on the day.

The virtual event will consist of a short presentation followed by a chat session.

You can register at:

GeckoForm

Upcoming event!!

Event to be held at the following time, date and location:

Monday, 29 January 2018 from 18:00 to 19:30 (GMT)

UCL SELCS Common Room, Foster Court (ground floor, G24), Malet Place
Malet Place
WC1E London
United Kingdom

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The Madness of Princess Alice: Ernst Simmel, Sigmund Freud and Alice of Battenberg at Kurhaus Schloß Tegel

Professor Danny Nobus, (Brunel University London).


In this paper, I will critically reconstruct the tragic clinical history of Princess Alice of Battenberg—the mother of the Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Elizabeth II’s mother-in-law—who was admitted to Ernst Simmel’s psychoanalytic clinic at Schloß Tegel in 1930, where she was diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. Although the institution was hailed as the first residential psychoanalytic treatment centre, when Freud (who was a regular visitor) was presented with the details of the case, he recommended that the patient’s ovaries be X-rayed. Apart from the fact that this recommendation hardly counts as a psychoanalytic intervention, and thus raises the question as to Freud’s own belief in the therapeutic value of the treatment paradigm he invented, it also invites broader reflection upon the rationale for Freud’s seemingly bizarre suggestion, and how it could be reconciled with prevailing clinical approaches to psychosis during the first half of the 20th century.

Share this event on Facebook and Twitter We hope you can make it.Best,UCL Health Humanities Centre

The Madness of Princess Alice: Simmel, Freud and Alice of Battenberg UCL Health Humanities Centre/Institute of Advanced Studies UCL/British Psychological Society History of the Psychological Disciplines Seminar Series The Madness of Princess Alice: Ernst Simmel, Sigmund Freud and Alice of Battenberg at Kurhaus Schloß Tegel Professor Danny Nobus, (Brunel University L...

UCL Health Humanities Centre/Institute of Advanced Studies

UCL/British Psychological Society History of the Psychological Disciplines Seminar Series

Monday, 11 December 2017 from 18:00 to 19:30 (GMT)

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BEING BRAINS: MAKING THE CEREBRAL SUBJECT

Professor Fernando Vidal, (Centre for the History of Science, Autonomous University of Barcelona).

Are we our brains? Starting in the “Decade of the Brain” of the 1990s, “neurocentrism” became widespread in most Western and many non-Western societies. Formidable advances, especially in neuroimaging, have bolstered this “neurocentrism” in the eyes of the public and political authorities, helping to justify increased funding for the brain sciences. The human sciences have also taken the “neural turn,” and subspecialties in fields such as anthropology, aesthetics, education, history, law, sociology, and theology have grown and professionalized at record speed. At the same time, the development of dubious but successful commercial enterprises such as “neuromarketing and “neurobics” have emerged to take advantage of the heightened sensitivity to all things neuro. Skeptics have only recently begun to react to the hype, invoking warnings of neuromythology, neurotrash, neuromania, and neuromadness. While this neurocentric view of human subjectivity is neither hegemonic nor monolithic, it embodies a powerful ideology that is at the heart of some of today’s most important philosophical, ethical, scientific, and political debates. Being Brains critically explores the internal logic of such ideology, its genealogy, and its main contemporary incarnations.

Event to be held at the following time, date and location:

Monday, 11 December 2017 from 18:00 to 19:30 (GMT)

UCL SELCS Common Room, Foster Court (ground floor, G24), Malet Place
WC1E London
United Kingdom

Being Brains: Making the Cerebral Subject Professor Fernando Vidal, (Centre for the History of Science, Autonomous University of Barcelona). Are we our brains? Starting in the “Decade of the Brain” of the 1990s, “neurocentrism” became widespread in most Western and many non-Western societies. Formidable advances, especially in neuro...

UCL Health Humanities Centre/Institute of Advanced Studies

UCL/British Psychological Society History of the Psychological Disciplines Seminar Series

Mon 27 November 2017
18:00 – 19:30 GMT

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'The Pope and the Unconscious. The speeches of Pius XII on Psychotherapy in 1952-1953, Agostino Gemelli’s Commentary, and Psychoanalysis in Italy'

Professor Marco Innamorati (University of Rome, Tor Vergata)


The attitude of the catholic environment towards Psychoanalysis followed a strange historical trajectory. The first period, from the first Italian psychoanalytic writing until about 1950, was marked by a complete opposition. After World War II, there were attempts outside Italy to integrate Psychoanalysis within catholic culture, while the Italian Catholics stayed clear from Freud for quite a long time. A very important role was played by the two speeches about Psychotherapy given by Pius XII in 1953, at the opening of two congresses: the World Congress on Psychotherapy, in Rome, and a medical congress in France. The speeches showed an open attitude towards psychotherapeutic practices in general, but contained admonishing words against reductionist and materialist theories. They were interpreted differently in Italy and abroad. In the United States it seemed obvious that Pius XII wanted to open the doors to Psychoanalysis; in Italy the same words were interpreted as an absolute and total prohibition of psychoanalytic therapy. Such a “non expedit” was factually effective until the pontificate of Paul VI. The second interpretation was expressly suggested by Agostino Gemelli, who at the time was the most influent personality of Catholic psychology in Italy. Gemelli published a book containing an in-depth hermeneutics of the Pope’s words, deducing an opposition towards Freud’s psychoanalysis and Jung’s analytical psychology. Actually, the Vatican did not refute neither the American interpretation, nor Gemelli’s. Our talk will deepen the historical context and the reasons for this hermeneutical divide.

Mon 27 November 2017
18:00 – 19:30 GMT

UCL SELCS Common Room, Foster Court (ground floor, G24), Malet Place
London
WC1E

The Pope and the Unconscious. Pius XII on Psychotherapy in 1952-1953 The Pope and the Unconscious. The speeches of Pius XII on Psychotherapy in 1952-1953, Agostino Gemelli’s Commentary, and Psychoanalysis in Italy Professor Marco Innamorati (University of Rome, Tor Vergata) The attitude of the catholic environment towards Psychoanalysis followed a strange historical…

UCL Health Humanities Centre/Institute of Advanced Studies

UCL/British Psychological Society History of the Psychological Disciplines Seminar Series

Monday 13 November 2017

The psychologies of utopia and reality. E. H. Carr, 1919-1939.

Alex Woodcock (UCL)

How do theories from across human and social science disciplines connect, merge, and inform one another? In the early to mid twentieth century, Edward Hallett Carr was one of Britain’s most visible and controversial public intellectuals. His legacy had dwindled to being little more than an academic signpost within History and International Relations. However the turmoil of twenty-first century political world and the hundredth anniversary of the Russian Revolution, on which he was an authority, have led to a resurgence of interest in his work. This presentation explores in detail Carr’s relation to his own academic, political, and intellectual context. It will look to understand his life and work between 1919 and 1939 in terms of prevailing trends and formative theories derived from the psychological disciplines. Understanding his intellectual formation in this way allows one to appreciate the nuances and depths of his milestone 1939 IR text, The Twenty Years’ Crisis, 1919-1939, as well as giving an insight into how and why Carr arrived at his historical and political conclusions. Moreover, such a view speaks to wider issues regarding the specific importance of the ‘history of the psychological disciplines’ within the human and social sciences.

Tickets/registration: https://psychologies-of-utopia-and-reality.eventbrite.co.uk
Time: 6pm to 7.30 pm.
Location: SELCS Common Room (G24), Foster Court, Malet Place, University College London.

The psychologies of utopia and reality. E. H. Carr, 1919-1939. The psychologies of utopia and reality. E. H. Carr, 1919-1939. Alex Woodcock (UCL) How do theories from across human and social science disciplines connect, merge, and inform one another? In the early to mid-twentieth century, Edward Hallett Carr was one of Britain’s most visible and controversial p...

Meditation, Imagination, Psychotherapy and Spiritual Practice in the 1930s C. G. Jung and the Berneuchen Movement: Meditation and Active Imagination in Jungian Psychotherapy and Protestant Spiritual Practice in the 1930s.Dr. Martin Liebscher (UCL)Active imagination is one of the methodical corner stones of Jungian therapy. Evolved from his self-experimental phase after 191...