Psychiatry and Photography:

Abstract

The intimate ties connecting photography and psychiatry date back to the late nineteenth century. Early adopting physicians such as British psychiatrist, Hugh Welch Diamond, and French neurologist, Jean-Martin Charcot believed that photography could aid in the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric patients. They utilized the medium to record, catalog, and disseminate what they found to be insanity’s phenotype, a set of observable and visual characteristics or traits. This thesis will explore the implications that photography as a diagnostic tool has had on the perception, and therefore, care and treatment of psychiatric patients. It will argue that the historically irresponsible use of photography and its acceptance as truth has perpetuated negative archetypes of mental illness. The paper will also recommend that medical professionals exercise caution when using the physical medium of photography as a means to reveal and interpret the less tangible causes of mental illness.