Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review“Tackling the history of mental illness in terms of the ‘institutional dualism’ of psychiatry and vernacular healing makes Disturbing Spirits refreshing and dynamic.” —Kristina L. Richardson, author of Difference and Disability in the Medieval Islamic World
"Disturbing Spirits is a groundbreaking study written with remarkable clarity and empathy. Spanning over one hundred years of history and weaving together different disciplines, approaches, and a wealth of untapped primary sources, it tells the compelling story of the failure of the medical elites in Syria and Lebanon to impose modern psychiatry and erase local beliefs about the power of spirits to both cause and treat mental illnesses." —Sara Scalenghe, author of Disability in the Ottoman Arab World, 1500–1800
"In this original exploration of how war in Syria and Lebanon over the last century contributed to enduring psychological instabilities in these countries, Beverly Tsacoyianis offers a valuable contribution to the study of the modern Middle East. . . . this book successfully opens new avenues of research that ethically engage social justice and disability rights’ themes." —Choice
"Disturbing Spirits is an interdisciplinary and rich study of the history of illness in Syria and Lebanon that provides various contributions to scholarship in the Middle East and trauma studies, medical humanities, and the overall history of health and healing." —Journal of the History of Behavioral Science
"Tsacoyianis’s book is a highly empathetic look at the history of mental illness treatment in Syria and Lebanon from the late nineteenth century to today. The importance of vernacular healing practices should not be neglected by historians simply because they are difficult to document or quantify." —H-Sci-Med-Tech
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. Vernacular Healing in Greater Syria
2. The Origins of Greater Syrian Medical Institutions
3. Medical Missionaries and the Lebanon Mental Hospital, 1899–1983
4. Secular Healing and Ibn Sina Mental Hospital, 1922–2018
5. Literature, Civil War, and (Ef)facing Syrian and Lebanese History
Conclusion
