Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy in the Light of Present-Day Psychology

Abstract

In this study it is hoped to demonstrate that the Anatomy of Melancholy, written by Robert Burton, Fellow of Christ Church College, Oxford, in the first half of the seventeenth century, contains the essential features of an enlightened psychiatry. To find in an early seventeenth century work, in spite of much antiquated material, a general approach and specific proposals which closely resemble the best practices of the present time is in itself interesting. It leads to a further question, namely, Is the Anatomy of Melancholy really an historical curiosity, isolated from past thought on the subject of mental disease, and without influence on later generations? Or does it only appear to be a curiosity because so few of us have sufficient knowledge of the history of psychological medicine to trace its background and influence? The purpose of the theis, then, is to consider Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy in the light of twentieth century developments and in relation to the history of the subject. The problem of Burton's debt to the past arises naturally from a consideration of his methods of collecting his data, for it soon becomes apparent that one of his sources, if not the chief source, is an inordinately large number of books. The question of Burton's influence on later writers can be left until his contributions have been outlined. Thus the thesis will be divided as follows: Burton's Method and General Approach (Section II); his Use of Books (Section III); the Foundations of his Psychology (Section IV); his views on Melancholy, under the headings of Symptoms and Classification (Section V), Causation (Section VI), Treatment and Cure (Section VII). Section VIII will consist of Some Further Considerations of Burton's Psychiatry which do not fit conveniently into the previous Sections. Section IX will take up the question of Burton's Influence. Burton's Character will be discussed in Section X. A brief illustration of the type of research which has been carried out on Burton will be given in the Appendix.