History of psychotherapy

Featuring Hannah Blythe, Sarah Marks, and Rachael Rosner

Join us for a discussion of how the notion of psychotherapy has changed over time, from hypnosis, to a medical intervention offered through the National Health Service, all the way to internet-based therapy and chatbots. We also touch on everything from key figures in the history of psychotherapy, mental health charities to the challenges of writing a history of psychotherapy.

*Please note that in order to avoid ascribing anachronistic ideas to people in the past, historians speak and write using the language of the people they study. During the various periods discussed, medical professionals and lay people used terms including ‘insanity’, ‘lunacy’, ‘madness’ and ‘mental disorder’, so at points in the discussion we use these words too.

Why does talking help? What makes a good listener? In what sense might talking be a cure? In this podcast series we explore these questions by interviewing philosophers, historians, and practitioners of talking therapies, broadly construed. In particular, we’ll showcase the work of researchers associated with the Talking as Cure? Contemporary Understandings of Mental Health and its Treatment Research Network.

 

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