Psychology in/and/as Politics

October 14: Fascism

Read:

• “The Nazi Mind”
• “How racism came to be called a mental illness — and why that’s a problem”

Optional:

• Hannah Arendt’s five part series on the trial of a Nazi war criminal

Ask:

• Were Nazi leaders mentally ill? If not, were they mentally healthy? Is there a third category between the two, or illnesses that we can’t diagnose?
• What about other kinds of bad people (school shooters, terrorists, serial killers, racists, etc.)?
• What are the benefits or consequences of labeling bad behavior as an illness? In other words, what does calling a fascist ill do?
• Is there a gap between psychological science and common sense understandings of illness and health? If so, why and can it be bridged?

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October 16: Draeptomania, Dysaethesia aethiopica & Race as Pathology

Read:

• Excerpts from The Protest Psychosis
• Samuel Cartwright’s Draeptomania (read pages 17-25)

Optional:

• Peter Breggin on psychiatry as an instrument of social control
• “An ‘Epeleptick’ Bondswoman: Fits, Slavery, and Power in the Antebellum South”

Ask:

• Are the two readings similar? How so?
• What sociopolitical factors explains similarities or differences?
• How is psychological science used to shape the world/politics?
• Link to asylum unit
• Link to IQ testing
• What can be done to avoid racism in psychology? What solutions won’t work, in your opinion?
• If psychological diagnoses can be used to reaffirm racism, can they also be used to push back against racism? If so, what would this look like?

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October 21: Radical therapies and Social Critiques

Read:

• The Esalen Institute and the Human Potential Movement Turn 50

Optional:

• Franz Fanon, “The Negro and Psychopathology”