Wellcome uses cookies.

Read our policy
Wellcome Collection homepage
All
Stories
Images
Catalogue
Events

Stories

  • Article

Picturing mental health

Ron Hampshire created artworks while resident at Netherne psychiatric hospital. What can we learn from them?

  • Article

Religion and mental health

At a time of extreme distress, Jamila Pereira found that the faith she had relied on was failing her. Here she describes how she found other ways to begin healing and finding happiness.

  • Article

Chronic illness and the pressure to get well

When she was ill, Naomi Morris assumed she was on a straightforward journey from sickness to health. But what if our experiences of mental distress and ill health aren’t that neat?

  • Article

A reflection on art in a mental hospital

Artist Beth Hopkins explains how she used her experience of researching the Adamson Collection to create an embroidered wall hanging.

All stories (97)

Images

  • Statistics of mental illness in the Netherlands for 1984. Colour lithograph for the Nederlands centrum Geestelijke volksgezondheid, 1986.
  • Statistics of mental illness in the Netherlands for 1982. Colour lithograph for the Nederlands Centrum Geestelijke Volksgezondheid, 1984.
  • Statistics of mental illness in the Netherlands for 1990. Colour lithograph for the Nederlands Centrum Geestelijke Volksgezondheid, 1992.
  • Statistics of mental illness in the Netherlands for 1980. Colour lithograph for the Nederlands Centrum Geestelijke Volksgezondheid, 1982.
  • People talking to psychoanalysts; representing statistics of mental illness in the Netherlands for 2000. Colour lithograph for the Trimbos-instituut, 2001.
  • A precarious figure on a tightrope, representing statistics of mental illness in the Netherlands for 1980-1996. Colour lithograph for the Trimbos-instituut, 1999.
  • A human figure erratically painted by Herman Brood, representing statistics of mental illness in the Netherlands for 1997. Colour lithograph for the Trimbos-instituut, 2000.
  • A psychoanalyst on his couch analysing himself in a mirror; with statistics of mental illness in the Netherlands for 1992. Lithograph for the Nederlands centrum Geestelijke volksgezondheid, 1994.
  • Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi Lamiaceae. Baikal skullcap. Distribution: China. There are several hundred species of Scutellaria, also known as skull caps, so correct identification is important - in particular from Scutellaria lateriflora an American species known as Blue skullcap. The latter is used as an abortifacient and to expel placenta by the Cherokee and for cleaning the throat by the Iroquois (Austin, 2004). Much vaunted as a treatment for rabies with unlikely statistics (1,400 cases cured by one doctor alone). Also as ‘antispasmodic, nervine, [for] chorea, convulsions, tetanus, tremors, delirium tremens, [and as a] diaphoretic and diuretic'. Toxicity symptoms include mental confusion, stupor, headache, vertigo, photophobia, dilated pupils, difficulty in micturition, bradycardia, tremulousness and languor, followed by wakefulness and restlessness (Milspaugh, 1974). Hutchens (1991) reported that it reduces sexual desire and was used for almost every nervous illness. Scutellaria baicalensis contains baicalin, baicalein and wogonin (European Medicines Agency, September 2010). It is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for treating inflammation, cancer, bacterial and viral infections of the lungs and gut and is one of the '50 Chinese herbs' in the lists of some authors. Scutellaria lateriflora (combined with Verbena officinalis, Passiflora incarnata and the seed of Avena sativa (oats) is licensed for use in Britain as a herbal medicine for temporary relief of mild symptoms of stress such as mild anxiety and to aid sleep, based upon traditional use only. Scutellaria baicalensis is not licensed for use in the UK (UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • A man suffering from attack by blue devils; representing depression or mental illness. Coloured etching after R. Newton, 1795.
All images (72)

Catalogue

All works (34)