title: Jews and mental illness: medical metaphors, anti-semitism, and the Jewish response.
abstract: The idea that Jews were prone to a specific set of illnesses is as old as the Middle Ages. In the nineteenth century the view that the Jew was especially prone to developing mental illnesses became an accepted part of medical discourse. Jewish doctors, too, believed this and had to evolve a means of dealing with their own potential madness.
mesh_terms: D005060:Europe; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D007585:Jews / Q000266:history*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000266:history*; D011287:Prejudice