Minds and Madness (HPSC30019)

Undergraduate level 3Points: 12.5Dual-Delivery (Parkville)

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Overview

Availability
Semester 2 - Dual-Delivery
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Madness, insanity, lunacy, losing one’s mind, nervous breakdown, psychosis, neurosis; some of the myriad terms that have been used to describe what happens when a person is deemed to no longer have control over word, thought or deed. It is one of the most baffling of phenomena and has been for millennia.

“Minds and Madness” explores the terms using lenses provided by history and philosophy. We focus on a number of inter-related questions:

  • whether mental illnesses are natural kinds (i.e. are they real and if so what is the nature of their reality)?
  • how have underlying theories of cause and pathology created specific therapeutic measures?
  • and what has been the relationship between the psych-sciences and power (focusing upon patients, practitioners, and the intersections of ethnicity, class and gender)?

A flavour of the subject is captured by the people, events and therapies we explore: Burton, Descartes and Locke; asylums, mental hospitals and therapeutic communities; psychosurgery, electro-convulsive therapy, psychoanalysis, anti-psychiatry and psychopharmacology; the major contemporary disease-categories (schizophrenia, bi-polar &c.) and disease-categories that have morphed or disappeared (fugue, melancholia, hysteria). We explore the history of classification systems (e.g. the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) and the different disciplines that have produced them (psychiatry, psychology and neurology). By the end of the subject students should have a profound understanding of the nature of the psych-sciences and the people and conditions they have sought to understand and treat.

“Minds and Madness” is a blended-learning subject. Lectures are provided online as weekly modules. They combine text, images, links, video and extensive bibliographies. Students are asked to explore these, addressing the questions raised in the modules. They also attend a two-hour workshop where the major issues are explored, while ideas and assessments are workshopped. It is a subject that will appeal to anyone who has an interest in psychiatry, psychology, the neurosciences, and history and philosophy more generally.

Intended learning outcomes

Students undertaking this subject will:

  • demonstrate a broad knowledge of the history and historiography of minds and madness
  • synthesise, analyse and assess arguments about minds and madness, and contextualise these arguments within the broader realms of science, history and philosophy
  • create effective arguments, backed up by convincing evidence, about the historical dynamics of minds and madness and medicine, and be able to express these to experts and interested non-experts alike
  • develop high-level research skills, including the ability to extend your knowledge-base beyond subject materials, combining traditional library- and archive-based research with digital research
  • develop effective communication and presentation skills (written and oral), and the ability to collaborate constructively within the classroom
  • demonstrate ethical integrity in written work and classroom activities, including a deep ethical engagement with issues around mental health and illness

Last updated: 14 March 2025

Eligibility and requirements

Prerequisites

None

Corequisites

None

Non-allowed subjects

None

Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)

The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.

Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home

Last updated: 14 March 2025

Assessment

Semester 2

DescriptionTimingPercentage

Short Essay

  • 1000 words
Hurdle requirement: For the purposes of meeting this hurdle requirement, the submitted assessment must be complete and constitute a genuine attempt to address the requirements of the task. Submitting only part of an assessment (e.g. only the title page) or an assessment on an irrelevant topic will not meet this hurdle requirement. A minimum passing grade must be achieved. 		Week 525%

Report

  • 1500 words
Hurdle requirement: For the purposes of meeting this hurdle requirement, the submitted assessment must be complete and constitute a genuine attempt to address the requirements of the task. Submitting only part of an assessment (e.g. only the title page) or an assessment on an irrelevant topic will not meet this hurdle requirement. A minimum passing grade must be achieved. 		Week 1037.5%

Critical Reflection

  • 1500 words
Hurdle requirement: For the purposes of meeting this hurdle requirement, the submitted assessment must be complete and constitute a genuine attempt to address the requirements of the task. Submitting only part of an assessment (e.g. only the title page) or an assessment on an irrelevant topic will not meet this hurdle requirement. A minimum passing grade must be achieved. 		During the examination period37.5%
Hurdle requirement: This subject has an attendance hurdle requirement of 75% seminar attendance (9 out of 12 seminars)During the teaching period0%

Additional details

All assessment must be submitted to pass this subject. Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per day. After five working days late assessment will not be marked.

Last updated: 14 March 2025

Dates & times

  • Semester 2
    Principal coordinatorPaul Carter
    Mode of deliveryDual-Delivery (Parkville)
    Contact hours22 hours - 1 x 2-hour workshop per week from week 2 - week 12 and 1 x online lecture module per week (equivalent to 1-hour lecture)
    Total time commitment170 hours
    Teaching period25 July 2022 to 23 October 2022
    Last self-enrol date 5 August 2022
    Census date31 August 2022
    Last date to withdraw without fail23 September 2022
    Assessment period ends18 November 2022

    Semester 2 contact information

    Email: carterpd@unimelb.edu.au

Time commitment details

170 hours

Last updated: 14 March 2025

Further information

Last updated: 14 March 2025