Women and Madness [Deluxe Edition] [Paperback]

Phyllis Chesler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1997

Originally published in 1972, Women and Madness was met with great acclaim--and controversy. Acclaimed psychologist and feminist Phyllis Chesler charged that a double standard existed for the treatment of the mentally ill and that women's concerns were taken much less seriously by doctors and counselors.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The single most important work on women and mental "health" and "illness," this book has revolutionized psychiatry since its publication in 1972. It is not an exaggeration to say that Phyllis Chesler gave birth to what is now known as feminist therapy through her analysis of how patriarchy shapes our definitions of madness, and of how psychiatry is used as a form of social control. What she shows is that women are defined as mad when they deviate from sex role stereotyping; that sex, class, race and marital status affect the likelihood of a woman being diagnosed as mad, and further determine her actual diagnosis or "type" of madness. And although much has changed in the world of therapy and psychology, this book remains as timely and significant today as it did over 20 years ago. -- From The WomanSource Catalog & Review: Tools for Connecting the Community for Women; review by Patricia Pettijohn --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Phyllis Chesler is the author of seminal works including the 2.5-million copy bestseller Women and Madness, as well as Letters to a Young Feminist and Woman's Inhumanity to Woman. Her most recent book, The New Anti-Semitism, has won her international acclaim and sparked huge debate.
She is an Emerita Professor of psychology and women's studies, the co-founder of the Association for Women in Psychology (1969), the National Women's Health Network (1974), and the International Committee for Women of the Wall (1989). She is currently on the Board of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and is also affiliated with Haifa and Bar Ilan Universities. She lives in New York City.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 398 pages
• Publisher: Four Walls Eight Windows (November 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568580967
• ISBN-13: 978-1568580968
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,346,982 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We have paid the price for patriarchal privilege, September 8, 2000

By 

Cathleen M. Walker "geminiwalker" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Women and Madness (Paperback)

Dr. Chesler casts her clear eyed vision over the field of psychiatry/psychology and unveils the sexism that underlies the history and the practice of the "art." Who knows how much untold damage has been caused by those who understand little about women as a sex and could care less, as long as they establish their careers? Incorporating the mythology of women as metaphor, Chesler also paints a picture of how we, as women, have paid the price for patriarchal privilege. I read this book 20 years ago, and I just read it again. It was an enjoyable this time as it was then, maybe even more so, with the deeper understanding I have now about the roots of feminism.

The only thing I wish she had addressed in this revised edition is deinstitutionalization and its affects on women. Perhaps another time? Soon?

5.0 out of 5 stars A GROUNDBREAKING WORK ABOUT WOMEN AND PSYCHIATRY, September 9, 2011

By 

Steven H. Propp (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Women & Madness (Mass Market Paperback)

Phyllis Chesler (born 1940) is an American writer, psychotherapist, and professor emeritus of psychology and women's studies at the College of Staten Island. She has written many other books.

She wrote in the Introduction to this 1972 book, "This is a book about female psychology... This is a book about the dramatically increasing numbers of American women of all classes and races, who are seen, or who see themselves, as 'neurotic' or 'psychotic,' and who seek psychotherapeutic help and/or are psychiatrically hospitalized. This is a book about the many 'whys' of such help-seeking behavior; about 'what' is experienced and viewed as in need of help; and about 'how' those women are---or aren't---helped."

Here are some additional quotations from the book:

"Today more women are seeking psychiatric help and being hospitalized than at any other time in history... There were significantly more women being 'helped' than their existence in the population would allow us to predict." (Pg. 33)
"I think (Dr. Thomas Szasz) underestimates the deeply conditioned nature of woman's compliance with her literal and psychological self-sacrifice. Many female mental patients ... commit themselves, quite voluntarily, to asylums or to private psychiatrists. The fear of economic, physical, and ... punishment teaches women to value their own sacrifice so highly that they quite 'naturally' perform it." (Pg. 106)
"Each woman, as patient... wants from a psychotherapist what she wants---and often cannot get---from a husband: attention, understanding, merciful relief, a personal solution---in the arms of the right husband, on the couch of the right therapist." (Pg. 109)
"Paradoxically, while women must not 'succeed,' when they DO succeed at anything, they have still failed if they're not successful at everything... A woman has failed if she succeeds at winning a legal or intellectual battle and has hurt another woman's (or man's) feelings in the process ... Ironically, mothers are often seen as 'failures'... because they haven't also achieved careers or independence from their families." (Pg. 277)

8 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but narrow in scope, December 21, 2001

By 

Edwin B. Wollet - See all my reviews

This review is from: Women and Madness (Paperback)

Why are so many women labeled (correctly or incorrectly) "mentally ill". Certainly, there seems to be a double standard as Ms. Chesler attests. However, what are the causes of this double standard? Ms. Chesler attributes it to an oppressive, patriarchal culture. Maybe. What is more likely is a combination of factors that include male aggressiveness and female passivity, both of which are personal choices not the responsibility of outside input. Yes, over the millenia, women have chosen to be passive and that "sets the deck" against new generations of women. But, for those females who are cultured passive and not genuinely mentally ill, the ultimate choice lies within themselves not on a psychiatrist's couch.

Overall, this book was well worth the read, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in mental health. Though rare I believe, there are real abuses that take place inside some therapists' offices, and those abuses, whether they involve women or men, should be exposed and the perpetrators punished. Ms. Chesler should be lauded for bringing up the disparity of the treatment of women versus men in the mental health field. Disregarding personal choices is however a fatal mistake in her argument.