AMS 295-02 - Special Topic: Disability and Mental Health in American Culture

4 credits (Spring)

This course examines the dramatic transformation in perceptions of disability and mental health throughout American history, how those perceptions affect the lives of individuals, and how this contentious discourse has influenced American culture. Topics covered include: the origin of intelligence testing; the development and subsequent rejection of Freudianism in the US context; the rise of the psychopharmaceutical industry; the anti-psychiatry movement of the 1960s; and recent debates of ADHD, autism, and the concept of neurodiversity.

Prerequisite: AMS 130.
Instructor: Hansen