Madness, Religion and the State in Early Modern Europe A Bavarian Beacon [Paperback]

A study of psychology during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, before the emergence of professional psychiatry.This is a major new study of psychology during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, before the emergence of professional psychiatry. It traces the struggle between high politics and popular culture which influenced the scientific revolution. Dr Lederer explores the use of spiritual remedies to deal with physical and mental ailments and argues that early modern understandings of madness were embedded in the religious apprehension of mind and body. The book will appeal to anyone interested in the history of medicine and psychology, the Counter Reformation, and the phenomenon of witchcraft.This is a major new study of psychology during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, before the emergence of professional psychiatry. It traces the struggle between high politics and popular culture which influenced the scientific revolution. Dr Lederer explores the use of spiritual remedies to deal with physical and mental ailments and argues that early modern understandings of madness were embedded in the religious apprehension of mind and body. The book will appeal to anyone interested in the history of medicine and psychology, the Counter Reformation, and the phenomenon of witchcraft.This major new study of psychiatry and psychology--during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries--traces the struggle between politics and popular culture which influenced the scientific revolution. David Lederer explores the treatment of mental illness in society before the emergence of professional psychiatry, the use of spiritual remedies ('spiritual physic') to deal with physical and mental ailments from melancholy to demonic possession, how early modern people understood the soul and the impact of the Counter-Reformation on all these issues.1. On the soul; 2. Sackcloth and ashes; 3. Bavaria Sancta; 4. Spiritual afflictions; 5. the decline of religious madness; 6. confinemlS%