Andrew Scull - Desperate Remedies: Psychiatry’s Turbulent Quest to Cure Mental Illness
Mad in America: Rethinking Mental Health
Mad in America
4.8 • 201 Ratings
🗓️ 13 July 2022
⏱️ 63 minutes
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Summary
Our guest today is sociologist and author, Doctor Andrew Scull. Andrew is a professor of Sociology and Science Studies at the University of California, San Diego, and recipient of the Roy Porter Medal for lifetime contributions to the history of medicine and the Eric T. Carlson Award for lifetime contributions to the history of psychiatry.
The author of more than a dozen books, his work has been translated into more than fifteen languages and he has received fellowships from, among others, the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies and the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies.
In this interview, we discuss his latest book, Desperate Remedies: Psychiatry’s Turbulent Quest to Cure Mental Illness, published by Harvard Press in May 2022.
Dirk Wittenborn, the screenwriter and novelist, described the book as "A riveting chronicle of faulty science, false promises, arrogance, greed, and shocking disregard for the wellbeing of patients suffering from mental disorders. An eloquent, meticulously documented, clear-eyed call for change."
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Mad in America podcast, your source for science, psychiatry and social justice. |
| 0:13.6 | Hello, this is James and welcome to the podcast. |
| 0:17.2 | And our sponsor this week is the JAEC Foundation, which is hosting an international conference on open dialogue this August. |
| 0:27.0 | And you can visit the website, jaecFoundation.org, for more information. |
| 0:33.4 | And now on to our interview. |
| 0:36.2 | Our guest today is sociologist and author Dr. Andrew Skull. |
| 0:40.7 | Andrew is a professor of sociology and science studies at the University of California, San Diego, |
| 0:46.5 | and recipient of the Roy Porter Medal for Lifetime Contributions to the History of Medicine |
| 0:51.9 | and the Eric T. Carlson Award for Lifetime Contributions |
| 0:55.9 | to the History of Psychiatry. The author of more than a dozen books, his work has been translated |
| 1:01.0 | into more than 15 languages, and he has received fellowships from, among others, the Guggenheim |
| 1:06.3 | Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Shelby Shelby Cullum Davis Center for Historical Studies. |
| 1:13.6 | In this interview, we discuss his latest book, Desperate Remedies, Psychiatry's Turbulent |
| 1:18.6 | Quest to Cure Mental Illness, which was published by Harvard Press in May 2022. |
| 1:24.9 | Dirk Whittenborn, the screenwriter and novelist described the book as a riveting chronicle |
| 1:30.4 | of faulty science, false promises, arrogance, greed and shocking disregard for the well-being |
| 1:36.1 | of patients suffering from mental disorders, an eloquent, meticulously documented, clear-eyed |
| 1:42.2 | call for change. |
| 1:43.9 | Dr. Skull, Andrew, welcome. Thank you so much for |
| 1:47.4 | taking the time to join me today for the Madden America podcast. Thank you very much, James. |
| 1:52.9 | It's a pleasure to be here. To kind of get us started, I wanted to ask a little bit about you, |
| 1:57.4 | actually. So you're a distinguished professor of sociology and science studies at the |
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