| Abstract: | Histories of psychiatry have typically contended that those accused of being witches during the late medieval/early modern period were mentally disturbed. Specifically, they have argued that (a) a great upsurge in mental disorder occurred in the 15th century, (b) the mentally ill were considered to be witches, and (c) witches were obviously mentally disturbed because they confessed to bizarre and impossible happenings, exhibited localized analgesia, and were sometimes insensitive to torture. These contentions are examined and found wanting. The overriding sociopolitical factors that produced and sustained witch persecutions are outlined. Witch accusations, confessions, and purported insensitivity are conceptualized in terms consonant with modern social-learning and social-role theories. (168 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
