PsychoHistory

Trends in modern-day psychology
by Ian Dowbiggin, Ph.D.

Where Is the Love?

Whatever happened to Masters and Johnson? If you replied “who?” you just answered my question. Read More

Divorce's Enablers

You thought therapy would save your marriage? And all you got was divorce? Well, feel free to blame your therapist. That's because, for a long time, most therapists have been soft on divorce. Read More

In Defense of Institutions

Are institutions really that bad? If the history of people with disabilities is any indication, the answer is no.

As someone who's been studying the history of mental hospitals for well over two decades, I'm familiar with all the arguments against using institutions to house people with mental disabilities. But a glance at the history of institutions might surprise a lot of people. Read More

Voodoo Sociology

The phrase isn't mine (it was uttered by a British Member of Parliament), but it neatly captures my reaction to the recent announcement that governments are now in the business of measuring happiness. Read More

Ian Dowbiggin

Ian Robert Dowbiggin, Ph.D., is an academic historian and professor of history at the University of Prince Edward Island.

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Books by Ian R. Dowbiggin, Ph.D.

Image of Keeping America Sane: Psychiatry and Eugenics in the United States and Canada, 1880-1940 (Cornell Studies in the History of Psychiatry)
Keeping America Sane: Psychiatry and Eugenics in the United States and Canada, 1880-1940 (Cornell Studies in the History of Psychiatry)
Image of A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America
A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America
Image of A Concise History of Euthanasia: Life, Death, God, and Medicine (Critical Issues in World and International History)
A Concise History of Euthanasia: Life, Death, God, and Medicine (Critical Issues in World and International History)
Image of The Quest for Mental Health: A Tale of Science, Medicine, Scandal, Sorrow, and Mass Society (Cambridge Essential Histories)
The Quest for Mental Health: A Tale of Science, Medicine, Scandal, Sorrow, and Mass Society (Cambridge Essential Histories)
Image of Suspicious Minds: The Triumph of Paranoia in Everyday Life
Suspicious Minds: The Triumph of Paranoia in Everyday Life
Image of Inheriting Madness: Professionalization and Psychiatric Knowledge in Nineteenth-Century France (Medicine and Society)
Inheriting Madness: Professionalization and Psychiatric Knowledge in Nineteenth-Century France (Medicine and Society)