Suicide: Foucault, History and Truth

by Ian Marsh

Overview

In an original and provocative study of suicide, Ian Marsh examines the historical and cultural forces that have influenced contemporary thought, practices and policy in relation to this serious public health problem. Drawing on the work of French philosopher Michel Foucault, the book tells the story of how suicide has come to be seen as first and foremost a matter of psychiatric concern. Marsh sets out to challenge the assumptions and certainties embedded in our beliefs, attitudes and practices concerning suicide and the suicidal, and the resulting account unsettles and informs in equal measure. The book will be of particular interest to researchers, professionals and students in psychology, history, sociology and the health sciences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521112543
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/14/2010
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Ian Marsh is a Senior Lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church University. He previously worked in an NHS community mental health team and continues to facilitate suicide prevention training.

Table of Contents

Contents; Part I. Introduction and Analytic Strategy: 1. Introduction; 2. Analytic strategy; Part II. The Present: 3. Mapping a contemporary 'Regime of Truth' in relation to suicide; 4. Problematising a contemporary 'Regime of Truth' in relation to suicide; Part III. A History of the Present: 5. Self-accomplished deaths at other times and in other places: the contingency of contemporary truths in relation to suicide; 6. Conditions of possibility for the formation of medical truths of suicide, 1641–1821; 7. Suicide as internal, pathological and medical, Esquirol 1821; 8. The production, dissemination and circulation of medical truths in relation to suicide, 1821–1900; 9. Managing the problem of the suicidal patient: containment, constant watching and restraint; 10. Towards the 'normatively monolithic' – 'psy' discourse and suicide: 1897–1981; 11. The discursive formation of the suicidal subject: Sarah Kane and 4.48 Psychosis, 2000; Part IV. Summary and Conclusions: 12. Summary and conclusions; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...Historians, philosophers of science, and other epistemologists will value its rigorous analysis of all discourse related to suicide."
-Marc Hillbrand, PsycCRITIQUES


"...Marsh’s text should be required reading for scholars across the humanities, social sciences, and medical fields with any investment in the study of suicide and its prevention.... it manages to be comprehensive without being daunting—no easy task for a book that covers hundreds of years of history in relation to suicide in just over two hundred pages.... indispensible for scholars interested in a history of suicide and how a Foucauldian methodology might be put to use..."
-Daniel R. Mistich, University of Georgia, Foucault Studies

From the Publisher