I just received the following announcement about the launching of a new blog, H-Madness, which covers issues in the “history of madness, mental illness and their treatment (including the history of psychiatry, psychotherapy, and clinical psychology and social work).” It is being collectively written by four prominent historians: Greg Eghigian (Penn State University), Eric J. Engstrom (Humboldt Universität), Andreas Killen (City College of New York), and  Benoît Majerus (Université libre de Bruxelles).

I’ll simply copy the announcement below for anyone who would like to check it out.

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We are happy to announce the launch of a new blog dedicated to the history of madness and mental health: H-Madness (http://historypsychiatry.wordpress.com)

H-Madness is intended as a resource for scholars interested in the history of madness, mental illness and their treatment (including the history of psychiatry, psychotherapy, and clinical psychology and social work). The chief goal is to provide a forum for researchers in the humanities and social sciences to exchange ideas and information about the historical study of mental health and mental illness. The blog, therefore, primarily serves university and college faculty, students, and independent researchers.

Subscribers are encouraged to share information about teaching and research as well as news about professional activities and events, such as job postings, conferences, and fellowships and grants. While most postings are in English, postings in other languages are welcome.

Please note that we are interested in identifying reviewers for books, films, plays, exhibitions, and cultural events of various kinds. If you are eager to contribute reviews from time to time, please contact us, with a brief note detailing your (1) affiliation, (2) location, and (3) interests and expertise within the history of madness and mental health.

In order to keep you informed about updates, we invite you to subscribe to the blog by clicking on the “email subscription” on the top right of the webpage.

This whole week will be dedicated to discussions about the newly released draft of the DSM-V with contributions from Allan Horwitz, Andrew Lakoff, Geoffrey Bowker, Christophe Adam, Chloe Silverman, Jesse Ballenger, Emmanuel Delille…

We hope you enjoy H-Madness.

Greg Eghigian – Eric Engstrom – Andreas Killen – Benoît Majerus