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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsFlaleftist
(3,473 posts)Im glad I wasnt alive back then.
GreenPartyVoter
(72,377 posts)MiniMe
(21,708 posts)What does that mean for a reason?
FakeNoose
(32,556 posts)I have no idea but I don't think they're talking about the "Salvation Army" that we know.
This term must have meant something different in those days.
I'm watching "The Alienist" mini-series and the title is based on the fact that there were no terms for psychology or psychiatry in the late 1800's. The protagonist who would be termed a psychiatrist today was called an "alienist" because they didn't have any other word for it. They believed that crazy people were alienated from their true personalities, and the doctor who treated them was called an alienist. This was before the time of Sigmund Freud who made it into a scientific discipline, which of course changed everything.