hc_bingo is open again! I'm so tempted to sign up; it's always been my favorite bingo, and it's also been a while since I wrote any fanfic, so maybe it would get me going again
( Read more... )
Do you happen to know any good books about the history of psychiatry in America in the mid to late nineteenth century? I'm not sure how much will make it into the story, but it's always good to have background.
There maaaay be a doctor character who is all "Gosh, isn't it sad that it's 1868 and we know almost nothing about mental health problems! IF ONLY IT WERE THE FUTURE AND WE KNEW MORE," just so the readers don't get confused about whether prayer and going to Arizona are the state of the art depression treatments these days.
No, unfortunately. I might be able to answer specific questions, though. The problem with a lot of medical history is that typically stuff was known about but not widely, or not actually practiced, so knowing when something was invented won't tell you if people were actually using it or aware of it
( ... )
If the story were set just a few years later, I would use the term neurasthenia, but unfortunately it wasn't popularized until the 1870s so that's right out. Probably melancholia will work just as well - actually it might be more accessible to a general reader, now that I think about it.
I've also thought about having the characters discuss it in terms of a loss of faith, because that seems to be the other big language that people in the nineteenth century used to discuss mental/spiritual crisis. But I'm a bit chary of having a romance novel suddenly get bogged down in "Well I was brought up a Unitarian but then the war happened and I realized Jonathan Edwards was right, we are sinners in the hand of an angry God and there is no reason on earth why he shouldn't let all our worthless souls burn, and then I fell into the slough of despond."
Comments 5
Reply
There maaaay be a doctor character who is all "Gosh, isn't it sad that it's 1868 and we know almost nothing about mental health problems! IF ONLY IT WERE THE FUTURE AND WE KNEW MORE," just so the readers don't get confused about whether prayer and going to Arizona are the state of the art depression treatments these days.
Reply
Reply
I've also thought about having the characters discuss it in terms of a loss of faith, because that seems to be the other big language that people in the nineteenth century used to discuss mental/spiritual crisis. But I'm a bit chary of having a romance novel suddenly get bogged down in "Well I was brought up a Unitarian but then the war happened and I realized Jonathan Edwards was right, we are sinners in the hand of an angry God and there is no reason on earth why he shouldn't let all our worthless souls burn, and then I fell into the slough of despond."
Reply
Leave a comment