Maladies of the Mind is a project exploring mental health in the early modern household, created by final year history students at the University of Essex and directed by Dr. Lisa Smith.
The project is an extension of Reading Early English Medicine, we have taken their content on mental illness specifically with the addition of sources available from Early English Books Online to create a focused space for research into the treatment and understanding of mental health in the early modern household.
The main aim of this project is to bring together different primary sources, chiefly using REM, to analyse how early modern households treated issues of mental health. Recognising the related themes across the topic from the supernatural to gender, this site links various early modern social concepts with the treatment of mental health in the household.
The students at the University of Essex working on this project are:
Jessie Foreman – History (BA) – While on a year abroad in Canada, I discovered a passion for the history of medicine. Since then, I have focused my final year research project upon the up and coming area of sensory history, more specifically creating a soundscape of the Great Plague (1665) in London.
Emma Seeley – History (BA) – My area of historical interest is the supernatural in early modern England, specifically the beliefs in the household. My current research is upon the parental reactions towards ‘child demoniacs’ believed to be bewitched around the turn of the seventeenth century. A major theme of this research is psychiatry, due to the attempts to provide an alternative medical explanation for the bewitchment, hence my interest in the understanding of mental illness. I am also presently assisting with the Sloane Letters Project which offers a great insight into the early modern household and the changing attitudes towards medicine and magic. I Intend to continue my studies at postgraduate level, furthering my research into the blurred lines of the natural and supernatural in early modern England.
Lindsey Gosling – History (BA) – Mental health has always been an interest of mine especially since undertaking a Humanities and Social Sciences Access to HE Diploma level 3, a third of which was based around psychology. This project further extends my interest, by investigating the history of mental illness in the early modern period. My preferred area of study is actually vice in the Victorian era, which is the foci of my third year independent research project, however ascertaining knowledge of early modern mental health is of great significance because it provides context surrounding the gendering of mental health issues, which had become deeply entrenched by the nineteenth century. This gendering impacted upon the treatment of women many of which would have been prostitutes, and therefore is vital to aid my understanding of Victorian prostitution.
Nicole Kenny – Social and Cultural History (BA) – Mental health, in any time period, is often an extremely personal experience. My participation in this project reflects my passion for using an emotional approach to historical research in order to reveal and explore the most personal experiences within early modern history. An understanding of mental health, within the household, has enabled me to further my own interpretations in order to aid my final year research project which focuses on the experiences of women who committed infanticide during the seventeenth century.
Clare Mooney – History (BA) -I have a general interest in the inner workings of early modern households as I have based my final year research project on maidservants’ agency and authority in early modern England. I think that the everyday approaches to mental health in the home could offer a unique view into the ordinary beliefs surrounding a seeminly absract concept such as mental illness. The audience and readers of these medical texts is also of interest to me. Interpreting these social interactions may give some insight into the control of medical knowledge and its administration to members of the household in this period.
Shaikor Paul – History & Economics (BA) – I have a general interest in supernatural and mental health in Early modern England. As well as, the views and how they dealt with mental health in this time period. Moreover, finding the links between mental health and supernatural.
Rebekah Weymouth-Shelton – History (BA) – I have been interested in the relationships of those in the early modern household. I am particularly fascinated with the development of the relationship between the private and public spheres, especially the social attitudes and norms that were brought into the household. The understanding of the believed causes of mental illness in the early modern period is interesting as it shows the transfer of knowledge between the elite to the lower social order.
Mary Blomgren – Urban & Regional Studies (BA) – I am an exchange student from Canada with an interest in geography, urban studies, and history. I was curious to learn more about early modern households, and how mental health was viewed during that time. Learning about mental health in the early modern period has allowed me to compare it to current issues in urban planning, such as the effects of cities on mental health.
Maladies of the mind 