The study of human passions has vanished from Western psychiatry and should be restored, according to a visiting professor who will give a free public lecture at The University of Western Australia.

Professor Louis Charland, from the University of Western Ontario, will argue that until recently "the passions reigned supreme" in psychiatry and that many of the great pioneers of psychiatry, such as Sir Alexander Crichton (who first described Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in the 18^th century), believed that the passions played a fundamental role in the genesis and nature of mental illness.

In his lecture, Resurrecting the Passions: Lessons from the History of Passion and Emotion, Professor Charland will examine medical highlights of the history of passion and emotion, and consider several arguments why the passions should be reinstated in Western psychiatry.

Professor Charland has worked as a research and program evaluation consultant for the Government of Ontario's Premier's Council on Health Strategy, a "think-tank" created to plan for the future of healthcare in Ontario. He was also a bioethicist at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children.

His research focuses on two areas in the philosophy of science: the history and philosophy of the affective sciences (the study of emotion, or affect) and the history and philosophy of medicine, particularly psychiatry. In bioethics, he is interested in the nature of decision-making capacity in the process of informed consent (for example in patients with anorexia nervosa) in both medical treatment and research contexts.

WHAT: Lecture, Resurrecting the Passions: Lessons from the History of Passion and Emotion

WHERE: Webb Lecture Theatre, UWA

WHEN: 6pm, Tuesday 26 June

The lecture is presented by the IAS and the UWA-based Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotion.  For enquiries about registration: ias@uwa.edu.au or (+61 8) 6488 1340.

Media references

Audrey Barton (UWA Institute of Advanced Studies)  (+61 8)  6488 4797
Michael Sinclair-Jones (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 3229  /  (+61 4) 00 700 783