ABSTRACT
The chapter explores some of the issues that are raised by the historical study of classifications of mental disorder. It focuses on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. The chapter deals with a brief description of psychiatric ailments in Richard Napier’s practice. It assesses the typicality of the observations and discusses some of the ways that cultural and social factors influenced the classification of various signs of mental and spiritual disorders. Astrological medicine was not unusual in seventeenth-century England, nor did it differ much in practice from orthodox medicine - at least not on the very high level of competence at which Napier worked. The chapter discusses some broader reflections on the methodology of psychiatric history. Napier’s notion of what symptoms might be attributed to various supernatural agencies was broader than that expounded by many medical authorities.
