Past Programs
Medical History - 2005
2008 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002
Blind through the Mind - Contemporary Cases of Hysteria
11/06/2005
Hysteria was the diagnosis de jour for women in Dr Freud and Dr Charcot's era. Their 'hysterical' patients have become historical heroes of the psychological literature. But hysteria lives on today in a different guise - conversion disorder. This week, Natasha Mitchell speaks to a psychiatrist whose patients have found themselves paralysed and even blind. But their problem isn't neurological - it's psychological. And, body and mind meet again with one of the world's great polymaths of medicine - German psychiatrist, musician and TV star, Manfred Spitzer.
Count Dracula, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: Neurology and the Novel
09/04/2005
This week, get the garlic and crucifixes out as Natasha Mitchell digs for more curious tales of narrative and neurology. The late 19th Century horror classics, Dracula and The Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde, offer unexpected insights into developments in brain research at the time, and the controversies it provoked. From double brains and literary lobotomies, to brain stems and missing souls - Dracula and Dr Jekyll were as much characters of science as of great literature.
The Inner Life of the Broken Brain: Narrative and Neurology
02/04/2005
This week, Natasha Mitchell wonders why we're so compelled by stories of disordered broken brains? From the clinical case studies of 19th Century medicine to the popular works of self described 'neuroanthropologist' Oliver Sacks, neurological narratives have redefined our understanding of the human brain. But what is the real power of such stories? Some argue they represent a dissident effort to humanise the neurosciences. But do they also risk generating a highbrow freak show for the rest of us voyeurs as one critic suggests?
