Physicke for mind, body and soul: the diagnosis, treatment and experience of melancholy in early modern England. (360G-Wellcome-080659_Z_06_Z)

This research will explore the links between early modern medical and religious practices and their respective efforts to diagnose and treat psychological dysfunction associated with discontent and depression. Interdisciplinary in its scope, the thesis will draw upon contemporary medical, theological and literary works in an attempt to understand better early modern perceptions of human interiority and its relationship to the body, mind and soul. This project will include an examination of conditions during the period associated with chronic unhappiness (such as melancholy, grief and despair) and a subsequent analysis of how these various forms of depression were understood within both medical and religious contexts. The thesis will aim to demonstrate how contemporary understandings of sadness and discontent emerged from both medical-physical and spiritual-supernatural teachings on human existence and, in turn, how such a multi-discipline paradigm resulted in a highly eclectic approach to psychological therapy.