As a psychiatric term 'depression' dates back only as far as the mid-nineteenth century. Before then a wide range of terms were used: 'melancholy' carried enormous weight, and was one of the two confirmed forms of eighteenth-century insanity. This four-volume set is the first large-scale study of depression across an extensive period.

As a psychiatric term ‘depression’ dates back only as far as the mid-nineteenth century. Before then a wide range of terms were used: ‘melancholy’ carried enormous weight, and was one of the two confirmed forms of eighteenth-century insanity. This four-volume set is the first large-scale study of depression across an extensive period.

As a psychiatric term 'depression' dates back only as far as the mid-nineteenth century. Before then a wide range of terms were used: 'melancholy' carried enormous weight, and was one of the two confirmed forms of eighteenth-century insanity. This four-volume set is the first large-scale study of depression across an extensive period.

As a psychiatric term ‘depression’ dates back only as far as the mid-nineteenth century. Before then a wide range of terms were used: ‘melancholy’ carried enormous weight, and was one of the two confirmed forms of eighteenth-century insanity. This four-volume set is the first large-scale study of depression across an extensive period.

This four-volume primary resource collection will be the first large-scale study of depression across an extensive period. It will be divided chronologically, with each volume addressing a particular theme. The first volume examines the relationship between religion and melancholy with particular emphasis on Methodism and evangelical Protestantism. The literature of Methodism in particular abounds with references to the sense of psychological despair experienced by those who believe themselves to have been forsaken by God. Volume two depicts a period of radical change in medical understanding, as attitudes towards the body and its functions became increasingly evidence-based, while volume three explores the ways in which depression was identified, experienced and described from the inside. Finally, the fourth volume will bring together a range of publications, including broadsides, songs, poems and essays in order to reconstruct the cultural context of depression at the close of the eighteenth century.

As a psychiatric term ‘depression’ dates back only as far as the mid-nineteenth century. Before then a wide range of terms were used: ‘melancholy’ carried enormous weight, and was one of the two confirmed forms of eighteenth-century insanity. This four-volume set is the first large-scale study of depression across an extensive period.

This four-volume primary resource collection will be the first large-scale study of depression across an extensive period. It will be divided chronologically, with each volume addressing a particular theme. The first volume examines the relationship between religion and melancholy with particular emphasis on Methodism and evangelical Protestantism. The literature of Methodism in particular abounds with references to the sense of psychological despair experienced by those who believe themselves to have been forsaken by God. Volume two depicts a period of radical change in medical understanding, as attitudes towards the body and its functions became increasingly evidence-based, while volume three explores the ways in which depression was identified, experienced and described from the inside. Finally, the fourth volume will bring together a range of publications, including broadsides, songs, poems and essays in order to reconstruct the cultural context of depression at the close of the eighteenth century.