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A Cursing Brain? : The Histories of Tourette Syndrome / Howard I. Kushner.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2009]Copyright date: 1999Description: 1 online resource (320 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780674039865
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 616.8/3
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Note on Terms -- 1. An Elusive Syndrome -- 2. The Case of the Cursing Marquise -- 3. A Disputed Illness -- 4. The Case of “O.” and the Emergence of Psychoanalysis -- 5. Competing Claims -- 6. The Disappearance of Tic Illness -- 7. Margaret Mahler and the Tic Syndrome -- 8. Haloperidol and the Persistence of the Psychogenic Frame -- 9. The French Resistance -- 10. The Triumph of the Organic Narrative -- 11. Clashing Cultural Conceptions -- 12. Clinical Lessons -- Glossary -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index
Summary: Over a century and a half ago, a French physician reported the bizarre behavior of a young aristocratic woman who would suddenly, without warning, erupt in a startling fit of obscene shouts and curses. The image of the afflicted Marquise de Dampierre echoes through the decades as the emblematic example of an illness that today represents one of the fastest-growing diagnoses in North America. Tourette syndrome is a set of behaviors, including recurrent ticcing and involuntary shouting (sometimes cursing) as well as obsessive-compulsive actions. The fascinating history of this syndrome reveals how cultural and medical assumptions have determined and radically altered its characterization and treatment from the early nineteenth century to the present.A Cursing Brain? traces the problematic classification of Tourette syndrome through three distinct but overlapping stories: that of the claims of medical knowledge, that of patients' experiences, and that of cultural expectations and assumptions. Earlier researchers asserted that the bizarre ticcing and impromptu vocalizations were psychological--resulting from sustained bad habits or lack of self-control. Today, patients exhibiting these behaviors are seen as suffering from a neurological disease and generally are treated with drug therapy. Although current clinical research indicates that Tourette's is an organic disorder, this pioneering history of the syndrome reminds us to be skeptical of medical orthodoxies so that we may stay open to fresh understandings and more effective interventions.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780674039865

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Note on Terms -- 1. An Elusive Syndrome -- 2. The Case of the Cursing Marquise -- 3. A Disputed Illness -- 4. The Case of “O.” and the Emergence of Psychoanalysis -- 5. Competing Claims -- 6. The Disappearance of Tic Illness -- 7. Margaret Mahler and the Tic Syndrome -- 8. Haloperidol and the Persistence of the Psychogenic Frame -- 9. The French Resistance -- 10. The Triumph of the Organic Narrative -- 11. Clashing Cultural Conceptions -- 12. Clinical Lessons -- Glossary -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Over a century and a half ago, a French physician reported the bizarre behavior of a young aristocratic woman who would suddenly, without warning, erupt in a startling fit of obscene shouts and curses. The image of the afflicted Marquise de Dampierre echoes through the decades as the emblematic example of an illness that today represents one of the fastest-growing diagnoses in North America. Tourette syndrome is a set of behaviors, including recurrent ticcing and involuntary shouting (sometimes cursing) as well as obsessive-compulsive actions. The fascinating history of this syndrome reveals how cultural and medical assumptions have determined and radically altered its characterization and treatment from the early nineteenth century to the present.A Cursing Brain? traces the problematic classification of Tourette syndrome through three distinct but overlapping stories: that of the claims of medical knowledge, that of patients' experiences, and that of cultural expectations and assumptions. Earlier researchers asserted that the bizarre ticcing and impromptu vocalizations were psychological--resulting from sustained bad habits or lack of self-control. Today, patients exhibiting these behaviors are seen as suffering from a neurological disease and generally are treated with drug therapy. Although current clinical research indicates that Tourette's is an organic disorder, this pioneering history of the syndrome reminds us to be skeptical of medical orthodoxies so that we may stay open to fresh understandings and more effective interventions.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 19. Oct 2024)