The paradox of necessary uncertainty

Psychopathy, welfare and Munchausen Syndrome in 1950s England

Bibliographic Data

ID4516261
AuthorsChris Millard (0000-0001-5517-492X, University of Sheffield, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume36
Issue1
Pages76-97
Publication date2023-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScience in Context (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0269-8897 • E-ISSN: 1474-0664
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s026988972500047x
PMID40548687
OpenAlexW4411559846
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited32

ArgumentThe cluster of psychiatric concepts that includes "personality disorders," "psychopathy" and "moral insanity" has long been controversial and uncertain. This article investigates the concept of "psychopathy" in 1950s England and shows how this ambiguity is not a flaw or failure in the concept but absolutely necessary for the role it carries out: policing broad areas of social life. A case of Munchausen syndrome (a type of "psychopathy") in the late 1950s still functions as a precedent in the welfare system today, denying claimants sickness benefit, "closing a loophole," and exemplifying the usefulness of this uncertainty

Child abuse · Economics · Medical emergency · Munchausen syndrome · Personality · Poison control · Psychoanalysis · Psychopathy · Welfare · Child Abuse and Related Trauma · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · Human Factors and Ergonomics · Medicine · Psychology · Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending

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