Diseases and Therapies in Portuguese Psychiatry
This book, written by José Morgado Pereira, integrated researcher of Group 3 – History and Sociology of Science and Technology, is published by Climepsi Editores. It was presented at the Livraria Almedina Estádio Cidade de Coimbra, with contributions from Ana Leonor Pereira (CEIS20 integrated researcher and coordinator of Group 1), Carlos Braz Saraiva and Patrícia Câmara.
“As a doctor, I would like to emphasise that the challenge of understanding and caring is as great today as it was then, and that history has an important contribution to make by studying the symptoms and diseases, the institutions and ideals of this scientific and medical field. In the course of the work we saw how the importance of the somatic, as interpreted by the biological sciences, has been imposed at the expense of subjectivity, which is slowly recognised by the psychological disciplines, and of the social, which can be interpreted within the limits of morality and culture and is often understood as an extension of biology. Finally, illness has had, and continues to have, social and symbolic meanings, and studying it is fundamental to understanding illness and the psychological suffering that accompanies it, and to moving towards better organised ways of receiving and treating it, which are less marginalising and more socially integrated.”
José Morgado Pereira