Millard, Chris, Dr

Dr Chris Millard

BA, MA (York) PhD (Queen Mary, University of London)

School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities

Senior Lecturer in the History of Medicine and Medical Humanities

Senior Tutor

c.millard@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 2558

Jessop West

Full contact details

Dr Chris Millard
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
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S3 7RA

Profile

I joined the University of ��«Ӱҵ in 2016, having studied and taught in York, Birmingham and London.

My research focuses on the history of psychiatry and medicine in the twentieth century, particularly around self-harm, suicide, faking illness and child abuse.

I am also interested more broadly in the welfare state, the ‘helping professions’ of social work and child guidance, and the increasing influence of anthropology and sociology on medicine and psychiatry during the twentieth century.

I have published on the history of attempted suicide and self-harm, English mental health policy, and the history of the emotions.

I also worked in the UK Parliament in 2014, researching and writing a briefing on ‘parity of esteem between mental and physical health’.

Research interests

I am currently writing a history of illness deception in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries: Munchausen Syndromes and Modern Medicine.

This book charts the chronic faking of illness (Munchausen syndrome), deliberately making one’s children ill (Munchausen syndrome by proxy), and faking illness online (Munchausen by internet).

These linked categories are related to diverse concerns in Britain, such as the expanding welfare state and National Health Service, the ‘rediscovery’ of child abuse in the 1960s and 1970s, and the anxiety created by online anonymity.

I still write about self-harm and attempted suicide, the subject of my PhD thesis and later my book: A History of Self-Harm in Britain: A Genealogy of Cutting and Overdosing (2015).

My next project is a history of the idea of ‘parity of esteem between mental and physical health’.

This is currently a hot topic in mental health policy, but has been a prominent way of campaigning for mental health for at least a century.

More generally, I am interested in the ways in which modern medicine and psychiatry influence and inform our everyday lives, from assumptions about who we are, the advice we are given, and the services provided for us.

This involves research in the history of the emotions, the history of anthropology and sociology, and the history of psychiatry, psychology, social work and medicine.

Publications

Books

Millard C (2015) . Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Edited books

(Ed.) () . Routledge.

Journal articles

Millard C (2024) . The Lancet, 404(10461), 1395-1397.
Morrell M, Sabroe I & Millard C (2024) . Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
Millard C (2021) . Journal of Contemporary History, 56(2), 440-441.
Sabroe I, Mather S, Wilson A, Hall-Flavin DK, Fricker M, Barron LA & Millard C (2021) . The Lancet, 397(10277), 872-873.
Elliott GK, Millard C & Sabroe I (2020) . Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11.
Millard C & Callard F (2020) . History of the Human Sciences, 33(3-4), 3-14.
Millard CJ (2020) . Social Theory and Health, 18, 184-198.
Wilson A, Millard C & Sabroe I (2019) . The Lancet, 394(10192), 20-21.
Millard CJ (2017) . Social History of Medicine, 30(3), 567-589.
Millard CJ & Ougrin D (2017) . Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
Turner J, Hayward R, Angel K, Fulford B, Hall J, Millard C & Thomson M (2015) . Medical History, 59(4), 599-624.
Millard C & Wessely S (2014) . BMJ, 349(nov14 10), g6821-g6821.
Millard C (2013) . History of the Human Sciences, 26(2), 126-150.
Millard C (2012) . Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 1-1.
Bowker-Howell F, Sabroe I & Millard C () . BMJ, q1412-q1412.
Millard C () . BJPsych Advances, 1-3.
Millard C () The Paradox of Necessary Uncertainty: Psychopathy, Welfare and Munchausen Syndrome in 1950s England. Science in Context.

Chapters

Millard C (2022) Medical Journals In Millard C & Wallis J (Ed.), Sources in the History of Psychiatry, from 1800 to the Present London: Routledge.
Millard C & Wallis J (2022) , Sources in the History of Psychiatry, from 1800 to the Present (pp. 1-12). Routledge
Millard C (2020) , Balancing the self (pp. 314-339). Manchester University Press
Millard CJ (2020) Conclusion: Balance, malleability and anthropology: historical contexts In Jackson M & Moore M (Ed.), Balancing the Self: Medicine, Politics and the Regulation of Health in the Twentieth Century Manchester University Press
Millard CJ (2015) Creating 'the social': stress, domesticity and attempted suicide In Jackson M (Ed.), Stress in Post-War Britain (pp. 177-192). Routledge
Millard C () Justifying Experience, Changing Expertise: From Protest to Authenticity in Anglophone “Mad Voices” in the mid-Twentieth Century In Beaumont C, Colpus E & Davidson R (Ed.), Everyday Welfare in Modern British History: experience, expertise and activism Palgrave / Springer

Book reviews

Millard CJ (2017) . Medical History, 4(61), 602-604.
Millard C (2015) . History of Psychiatry, 26(4), 496-497.
Millard C (2012) . History of the Human Sciences, 25(1), 135-139.

Theses / Dissertations

Millard CJ Re -inventing the "cry for help": attempted suicide in Britain in the mid-twentieth century c 1937-1969.

Other

Millard C & Wessely S (2014) . BMJ, 349(dec16 18), g7619-g7619.

Research group

Research supervision

I am happy to supervise anyone interested in medicine, psychiatry, psychology, patient activism, social work, child guidance, the emotions, gender roles, the welfare state, the National Health Service and child abuse in twentieth- century Britain.

Current Students

Eva Surawy Stepney

PhD Student (History)
School of History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities

Title: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and the foundations of ‘evidence-based’ practice in British Psychology, 1948-1990.

Email: esurawystepney1@sheffield.ac.uk

Second supervisor

All current students

Completed Students

Kate McAllister - Encephalitis Lethargica, viral illness, and the binary structures of the modern British health system c.1900-1975

Find out more about PhD study in History

Teaching activities

Undergraduate:

HST3166/7 - Emotions and identity in twentieth-century Britain: from’stiff upper lip’ to Facebook emotions

Postgraduate:

HST6073 - Medical Humanity? Medicine and Identity

Public engagement

I co-devised and led the public engagement project ‘The Carnival of Lost Emotions’ at Queen Mary, University of London between 2012 and 2016 – engaging the public about the history of feeling. The Carnival has been shortlisted for an award, and showcased by the National Co-Ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) as an example of best practice in public engagement. It has been performed in diverse environments: the Barbican Centre, the Natural History Museum, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and as part of Secret Cinema.

I recently devised and ran a public engagement event on psychological testing – talking people through 1940s, 1950s and 1960s psychological questionnaires. This was part of the Wellcome Trust’s ‘Feeling Spectacular’ programme.

In the media:

I have blogged for the Wellcome Library, the Centre for the History of the Emotions and The Conversation.