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Marilyn Wedge

“[W]e are apt to forget that mental health categories are tied closely to culture. [...] A striking example of how cultural beliefs and social forces figured in the invention of new categories of "mental illness" occurred in the nineteenth century, when a prominent Southern physician named Samuel Cartwright described two types of "insanity" peculiar to slaves[,] drapetomania and dysaesthesia aethiopica. The first was to be diagnosed whenever a slave attempted to run away. The second was thought to be present when a slave displayed idleness or disrespect for his master's property. Cartwright recommended light whippings as a cure for both ailments.”

Marilyn Wedge, A Disease Called Childhood: Why ADHD Became an American Epidemic
tags: adhd, psychiatry
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