The Protest Psychosis
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''The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease'' is a 2010 book by the psychiatrist Jonathan Metzl (who also has a Ph.D. in
American studies American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines American literature, History of the United States, history, Society of the United States, society, and Culture of the Unit ...
), and published by
Beacon Press Beacon Press is an American left-wing non-profit book publisher. Founded in 1854 by the American Unitarian Association, it is currently a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is known for publishing authors such as Jame ...
, covering the history of the 1960s Ionia State Hospital, located in
Ionia, Michigan Ionia ( ) is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Ionia County, Michigan, United States. The population was 13,378 at the 2020 census. Every July it hosts what is said to be the world's largest free-admission fair, the Ionia Free Fair ...
, and converted into the Ionia Correctional Facility in 1986. The book describes the facility as one of America's largest and most notorious state
psychiatric hospital A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe Mental disorder, mental disorders. These institutions cater t ...
s in the era before
deinstitutionalization Deinstitutionalisation (or deinstitutionalization) is the process of replacing long-stay psychiatric hospitals with less isolated community mental health services for those diagnosed with a mental disorder or developmental disability. In the 195 ...
. Metzl focuses on exposing the trend of this hospital to diagnose
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
s with
schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...
because of their
civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...
ideas. He suggests that in part the sudden influx of such diagnoses could be traced to a change in wording in the DSM-II, which compared to the previous edition added "hostility" and "aggression" as signs of the disorder. Metzl writes that this change resulted in
structural racism A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...
. The book was well reviewed in ''
JAMA ''JAMA'' (''The Journal of the American Medical Association'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of b ...
'', where it was described as "a fascinating, penetrating book by one of medicine's most exceptional young scholars." The book was also reviewed in the ''
American Journal of Psychiatry ''The American Journal of Psychiatry'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering all aspects of psychiatry, and is the official journal of the American Psychiatric Association. The first volume was issued in 1844, at which time it was k ...
'', '' Psychiatric Services'', '' Transcultural Psychiatry'', ''
Psychiatric Times ''Psychiatric Times'' is a peer-reviewed medical trade publication written for an audience involved in the profession of psychiatry. It is published monthly by MJH Associates and is distributed to about 50,000 psychiatrists monthly. The downloa ...
'', '' The American Journal of Bioethics'', '' Social History of Medicine'', '' Medical Anthropology Quarterly'', ''
Journal of African American History ''The Journal of African American History'', formerly ''The Journal of Negro History'' (1916–2001), is a quarterly academic journal covering African-American life and history. It was founded in 1916 by Carter G. Woodson. The journal is owned and ...
'', '' Journal of Black Psychology'', '' Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine'', and ''The Sixties: A Journal of History, Politics and Culture''.


See also

* Political abuse of psychiatry in the United States **
Drapetomania Drapetomania was a proposed mental illness that, in 1851, American physician Samuel A. Cartwright hypothesized as the cause of enslaved Africans fleeing captivity. This hypothesis was based on the belief that slavery was such an improvement upo ...
*
Political abuse of psychiatry Political abuse of psychiatry, also known as punitive psychiatry, refers to the misuse of psychiatric diagnosis, detention, and treatment to suppress individual or group human rights in society. This abuse involves the deliberate psychiatric dia ...
* Sluggish schizophrenia * List of medical ethics cases


References


External links


The Protest Psychosis
video recording of talk by Metzl aired on January 13, 2010, by CSPAN-2's Book TV (90 minutes)
Interview with Metzl about the book
by Christopher J. Lane on ''
Psychology Today ''Psychology Today'' is an American media organization with a focus on psychology and human behavior. The publication began as a bimonthly magazine, which first appeared in 1967. The print magazine's reported circulation is 275,000 as of 2023. ...
''
Interview with Metzl
on
WNYC WNYC is an audio service brand, under the control of New York Public Radio, a non-profit organization. Radio and other audio programming is primarily provided by a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations: WNYC (AM) and WNYC- ...
radio, February 12, 2010
How the Black man became schizophrenic
blog post on the book by Karen Franklin on ''Psychology Today''
Schizophrenia as Political Weapon. The disease turned from a benign illness to a violent disease in the 1960s, just as black men joined protests against racism.
article and interview with Metzl in ''
The Root "The Root" is a song by American recording artist D'Angelo. It is the eighth track on his second studio album, '' Voodoo'', which was released on January 25, 2000, by Virgin Records. "The Root" was recorded and produced by D'Angelo at New York's ...
'' by Felicia Pride
The protest psychosis
– Essay by Metzl from June 9, 2010, in '' Michigan Today'', summarizing the book's ideas.
Audio interview
with Metzl on "New Books in African American Studies" (44 minutes)
Metzl discusses his book on ABC Radio National's All In The Mind program (30 minutes)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease 2010 non-fiction books American history books Books about African-American history History books about medicine Political abuses of psychiatry Social problems in medicine History of psychiatry History of civil rights in the United States Beacon Press books History of Michigan Ionia County, Michigan English-language non-fiction books Books about schizophrenia