Other Writing

In The Birth of Neurosis, Dr. Drinka examines the doctors, patients, and ideas that shaped notions of neurosis before Freud. This work is an exploration of the mass psychology and mythology of the Victorian age as well as a social history of its broader culture. Dr. Drinka describes the work of the fascinating, often eccentric physicians whose ideas were inextricably bound up in the profound technological and intellectual turmoil of their era—Jean-Martin Charcot’s use of hypnosis to treat “grand hysteria,” George Miller Beard’s prescription of electricity to cure neurasthenia, Richard von Krafft-Ebing’s studies of perversion and inversion in his treatments for “acquired degeneracy.” The Birth of Neurosis provides a new perspective on the tumultuous period in which our present understanding of human psychology had its beginnings.

His various books reviews in The Journal of American Psychoanalytic Association and the New York Times all pertain to writings in the area of the history of psychiatry and medicine.

Book Reviews of The Birth of Neurosis

“In this masterly work, physician and medical historian George Drinka explores the Victorian influence on our thinking about the relationship between behavior and the human brain. The book is rich with vivid and memorable description…Drinka skillfully imbeds this narrative of medical geniuses and charlatans within the larger framework of the social and technological developments of the period.”
                        – Richard Restak, M.D.
                          Washington Post Book World

“Dr. Drinka has unearthed no end of curiosities.”
                        – Rosemary Dinnage, The New
                          York Times Book Review

“It is a fascinating and often amusing story that Dr. Drinka has to tell, and he presents it well.”
                        –The Atlantic

“A multilevel and superlative survey [marked by] clarity of thought and expression…The ideas throughout are exceptionally thought-provoking…Read it for the sheer enjoyment of being led by an expert teacher into a weird but fascinating terrain.”
                        –Smithsonian

“It is indeed an impressive achievement weaving together as it does thumbnail biographies, case histories, and synopses of relevant novels…It is must reading for all interested in the history of psychiatry, and should in addition have a wide popular appeal.”
                        –Jerome D. Frank, M.D.,Ph.D.,
                          Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry,
                          The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

  • Balancing screen time with human contact

    A thought-provoking article that deserves a careful read. More and more I have seen parents dealing with kids suffering from anger problems and sleep issues by turning to the media in the form of IPad and smart phones and touch screens to mollify their kids. In the short term it works. In the long term there are problems. Continue reading →

  • Media violence has dire effects on children

    An excellent article that should be read and reread by those concerned about media violence. As Ms. Brown correctly states, the major professional organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the AMA have all squarely concluded that media violence has dire effects on children. This included emotional numbing to violence, increased fear and greater proneness to seeing violence as a way to solve a problem and then resorting to it more readily. Continue reading →

  • Too much screen time is actually bad for your health
    Too much screen time is actually bad for your health

    A fabulous article, one worth reading and re-reading. A research psychologist at UNC draws some interesting societal conclusions that grow out of solid psychological research. It seems that too much screen time can be quite detrimental to the health of your heart. Continue reading →

  • Media pervasiveness is often taken for granted

    Yet another story about how the media so totally becomes part and parcel of the lives of American teens in ways they can barely comprehend. Two teen males repeatedly rape a drunken teenage girl. First in a car and then in a basement. Terrible behaviors and ensuing trauma that has plagued the world of teens for centuries. What makes matters different here is the boys' making pictures of it and sending it out on their cellphones, presumably on a lark. Continue reading →

  • Violent media impacts how an individual sees the world
    Violent media impacts how an individual sees the world

    A terse article well worth reading. Its author makes an excellent point about how media violence can lead to both fear and real life violence. He turns to the George Gerbner idea of the "mean world syndrome" to explain how consuming over many years a heavy diet of violent media impacts on how an individual sees the world, namely as unsafe. Continue reading →

  • The media is cluttered with acts of violence
    The media is cluttered with acts of violence

    An article that hits pretty hard. It makes some serious points, also developed in my book. A main idea is that the media is cluttered more and more frequently with acts of violence. Further, these acts of violence, when viewed so very often by children, do take their toll emotionally and behaviorally. Continue reading →

  • Media influence is a nuanced issue that may never be settled

    A very valuable look at the state of play involving violence and the media and its effects on kids. As the author rightly points out, most issues in social science are never truly "settled" in the same way that Newton's three laws or Einstein's law of relativity have become settled laws of physics. Rather, he declares that the prevailing theory is that media violence does have negative impacts on children's proclivity toward violence. Continue reading →