MONASH UNIVERSITY FACULTY HANDBOOKS
Arts Undergraduate Handbook 1996
Published by Monash University
Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia
Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Women,
psychiatry and madness
J van Bommel
Synopsis We will begin with a socio-historical analysis of madness, its
institutionalisation and subsequent de-institutionalisation. We will then
critically assess sociological, medical and feminist theories of women,
femininity and madness. We will focus on how the institutions of psychiatry and
psychotherapy `understand' madness for women. As well, we will examine various
feminist critiques of psychoanalysis and female subjectivity.
Assessment Two essays (3000 words each): 50% each
Preliminary reading
- Bernheimer C and Kahane C (eds) In Dora's case: Freud, hysteria,
feminism Virago, 1985
- Busfield J Managing madness Unwin Hyman, 1989
- Chesler P Women and madness Doubleday, 1972
- Foucault M Madness and civilization Tavistock, 1967
- Grosz E Sexual subversions Allen and Unwin, 1989
- Showalter E The female malady: Women, madness and English culture,
1830-1980 Pantheon, 1985
- Smith D E and David S J (eds) Women look at psychiatry Press Gang,
1975
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