Introduction: Madness and psychiatry in East Asian countries in the modern period

Abstract

In the past decades, there has been an increasing scholarly interest in understanding the development of psychiatry and mental health in non-Western worlds in the modern period. Several collective efforts have been made on the East Asian part, and this special issue has selected the examples of the countries of China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Articles have utilized social and political constructions of psychiatric discourse, as well as the use of case files to research patients’ experiences in mental hospitals. Through these historiographies, connections and meanings of East Asian psychiatry are discussed in both global and local contexts.

Between Global North and South

“…We briefly look at the history of International Journal of DISABILITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE 4.1 May 2024 psychiatry in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan because the movements in these countries have been particularly active in the global social movements of people with psychosocial disabilities from East Asia. The knowledge and practices relating to psychiatry in East Asia largely reflect international trends, but have distinct East Asian features (Suzuki and Wang, 2022). To understand these features it is necessary to comprehend the significant social and political transformations that have taken place in the region since the nineteenth century.…”