Scholar Series: Dr. Russ Searight – The Institutionalization of Elsie Lacks: Psychiatry, Social Control, and the African-American Community

Psychiatrists during the slavery era described a syndrome “Drapetomia” a syndrome found among slaves – the principal symptom being a desire for freedom.  Others used psychiatric diagnoses to account for the civil rights movement. In his talk, Dr. Searight will explore how psychiatry has been used and misused through American history, often to the detriment…

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