ABSTRACT
The global Fin De Siècle was a crucial turning point for psychology and psychiatry. Medical doctors working with the mentally ill now identified themselves with a medical field called psychiatry. It was already a profession supported by social institutions and interest groups. Psychiatrists, who were medical school graduates, turned to brain anatomy and neurophysiology to explain mental illness. Most educated English-speaking individuals used the adjectives “psychic” or “mental” to refer to inner experiences. A popular university textbook published in the United States in 1895 described four clusters of such experiences: sensation, emotion, intellect, and volition. Psychology had several interconnected sources. One was biology and medicine. The writings of Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer helped researchers see psychological processes as adaptive mechanisms allowing individuals to adjust to changing conditions. In the 1860s, a typical university professor teaching psychology was likely to be an ordained minister.
