Class and gender in twentieth-century British psychiatry: shell-shock and psychopathic disorder

This chapter explores the ways in which class and gender permeated psychiatric practice in twentieth-century Britain. It first outlines the historical context and changing character of psychiatric ideas and practice, dividing the century into four main periods - Custodialism under attack, 1890-1929; Integration and Medical Innovation, 1930-1953; Community Care and Public Sector Expansion, 1954-1973; and Privatisation and Commercialisation, 1974 to the Present. The chapter then uses the prism of two psychiatric categories - shell-shock and psychopathic disorder to examine in some detail the ways in which class and gender are embedded in psychiatric work.