12119 - History of Psychology (1)

Learning outcomes

The aim of this course is to highlight the main topics of the Nineteenth century debate on mental disease, deviance, places and modalities of exclusion and treatment; to show students how to contextualize and interpret a text; to work on a critical awareness of emargination and violence under any respect.

Course contents

The course of History of Psychology will address the history of the treatment of mental disease in the Nineteenth century, focusing on the Italian context.

The course is divided in two parts, each of them has (5) 6 credits. Students who will choose the exam of (5) 6 credits can choose part A or part B. The exam of 10 (12) credits will consist in part A and part B.

Part A: From electro-shock to psychotropic drugs.

Part B: Basaglia and the "psychiatric revolution".

The course will take place in the second semester.
Lessons will start on February 4th, 2009 and will be in Classroom A, Via Zamboni 34.

Readings/Bibliography

Part A. From electro-shock to psychotropic drugs.

Valeria Paola Babini, La psichiatria nell'Italia del Novecento. I primi venti anni, “Psicoterapia e Scienze Umane”, 2006, XL, 3, pp. 593-624 [photocopies will be provided at the photocopy shop in via Belle Arti],

Romano Canosa, Storia del manicomio in Italia dall'Unità a oggi, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1979, pp. 151-166 [photocopies will be provided at the photocopy shop in via Belle Arti],

Roberta Passione, Ugo Cerletti. Il romanzo dell'elettroshock, Reggio Emilia, Aliberti, 2007,

Mario Tobino, Un matto muore all'insulina, novel, 1942 [photocopies will be provided at the photocopy shop in via Belle Arti].

Reccomended reading: one novel of Mario Tobino amongst:

Le libere donne di Magliano (1953), edited again in Oscar Mondadori,

Il manicomio di Pechino (diario 1955-1956), Milano, Mondadori, 1990

Part B. Basaglia and the “psychiatric revolution”.

Romano Canosa, Storia del manicomio in Italia dall'Unità a oggi, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1979, pp. 167-198 [photocopies will be provided at the photocopy shop in via Belle Arti],

Giovanni Jervis, Il buon rieducatore in Jervis, Il buon rieducatore. Scritti sugli usi della psichiatria e della psicoanalisi, Milano, Feltrinelli, pp. 9-42 [photocopies will be provided at the photocopy shop in via Belle Arti],

Francesco Parmegiani, Michele Zanetti, Basaglia, una biografia, Trieste, Lint editoriale, 2007,

Maria Grazia Giannichedda, L'utopia della realtà. Franco Basaglia e l'impresa della sua vita in Franco Basaglia, L'utopia della realtà, Torino, Einaudi, 2005, pp. VII-LVII.

Franco Basaglia, La distruzione dell'ospedale psichiatrico come luogo di istituzionalizzazione (1964),Un problema di psichiatria istituzionale (1966), in L'utopia della realtà, op. cit. pp. 17-26, 43-63.

F. Basaglia, L'istituzione negata, Introduzione documentaria a cura di Nino Vascon, Torino, Einaudi 1968, pp. 13-33, 71-77.

Reccomended reading: one novel of Mario Tobino amongst:

Le libere donne di Magliano (1953), edited again in Oscar Mondadori,

Il manicomio di Pechino (diario 1955-1956), Milano, Mondadori, 1990

Teaching methods

During the lessons we will watch films related to the History of psychiatry, television reports on psychiatric asylums and interviews to Franco Basaglia, and excerpts of "Settimana Incom" from the '50s and '60s.

Assessment methods

The exam will consist of a discussion starting from on a topic chosen by the student. During the exam it will be assessed: historical knowledge, critical approach and personal analysis.

Teaching tools

Overhead projector; dvd.

Office hours

See the website of Valeria Paola Babini