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C hurchill's B lack D og at the H ome O ffice, 1910–1911: The Evidential Reliability of Psychiatric Inference
Author(s) -
Attenborough Wilfred
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.12
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1468-229X
pISSN - 0018-2648
DOI - 10.1111/1468-229x.12012
Subject(s) - worry , perspective (graphical) , inference , apprehension , subject (documents) , psychology , anxiety , psychiatry , social psychology , cognitive psychology , philosophy , computer science , epistemology , artificial intelligence , library science
This is a case study of what passes for the evidential basis of psychological and psychiatric generalizations within popular historical accounts of, and widely publicized conceptions of, W inston C hurchill. There are two objectives. First, to sift and evaluate textual evidence concerning B lack D og's actual manifestations and impact during C hurchill's term at the H ome O ffice – a period often suggested as one in which he experienced significant mental ill‐health – utilizing, wherever possible, information and clues C hurchill himself left behind. The second objective, interwoven with the first, is to subject to test and challenge the evidence relied on for diagnostic pronouncements from the dominant S torr/ G haemi perspective, while being alert for indications of the alternative apprehension perspective identified, though not consistently adhered to, by Lord Moran. The overall conclusion is that, although clinical precision is unobtainable, the likelihood is that B lack D og at the Home Office manifested as, not melancholia, but worry and other forms of anxiety disorder.