Moonstruck: 500 Years of Mental Health

14 June 2019 – 28 February 2020

The illustrations, books and objects displayed in this exhibition showed the changing understanding of mental health over the last 500 years.

This exhibition was not simply a history of psychiatry, although that is an important part of this story. It also included mental health experiences which date from long before the profession of psychiatry existed and uncovered the self-help remedies of those who never came into contact with medical professionals.

Additionally it considered the role of physicians, including Fellows and Members of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, in the support for and treatment of these conditions.

This exhibition aimed to encourage us to examine our own ideas around mental health and to show how, even now, many older stereotypes and ideas about these conditions remain unchanged.