Difference Between Hippocrates And Mental Illnesses

Throughout the ages, treatment of the mentally ill has evolved with distinct periods of progression, stagnation and regression. At various points in history, treatment of the mentally ill included cruel and inhumane acts, while at other times, consisted of compassionate and benevolent care. It was thought that mental illness was derived from organic causes and treated the same way as common health issues such as colds or constipation. The clergy of many religions took on the burden taking care of those with mental illnesses. Monastic monks found themselves attending to the care of those with mental illness. The monks prayed for them, touched them with relics and prepared potions for them to

Hippocrates was the first to recognize that mental illness was due to ‘disturbed physiology’ as opposed to ‘displeasure of the gods or evidence of demonic possession’. It was not until about one thousand years later that the first place designated for the mentally ill came to be in 15th century Spain. Before the 15th century, it was largely up to individual’s families to care for them. By the 17th century, society was ‘often housing them with handicapped people, vagrants, and delinquents. Those considered insane are increasingly treated inhumanely, often chained to walls and kept in dungeons’. There are great strides for the medical treatments for the mentally

Hippocrates main concepts are derived from the fact that this disease originates from a natural cause. He states , "Men regard its nature and cause as divine from ignorance and wonder...this notion of divinity is kept up by their inability to comprehend it (33-35)." It was this 'sacred disease' of epilepsy that people used to connect with divine interference. Divine stimulation was never in form of a sickness or disease. These people were under the idea that sickness was not a sole presence, but rather an ailment that affects the human body and is sent by divinities. Therefore people did little to treat the affected, but rather tried to appease the so-called divine powers that sent the disease. In fact, the epileptic attacks were often referred to different gods depending on the symptoms such as Poseidon, Ares, Apollo, and Hecate.

During the 1800s, treating individuals with psychological issues was a problematic and disturbing issue. Society didn’t understand mental illness very well, so the mentally ill individuals were sent to asylums primarily to get them off the streets. Patients in asylums were usually subjected to conditions that today we would consider horrific and inhumane due to the lack of knowledge on mental illnesses.

For many centuries there has been multiple arguments about what causes mental illness. Hebrews believed that mental illness was a punishment from god for those who sinned. The way they cured one another was spiritually and through health. They believed that if you had a healthy diet that it would prevent you from any diseases. The physicians were also priests who had “special ways” to heal with higher powers. The biggest theory was that whoever had a mental illness was caused from supernatural forces. There had been many different treatments to help cure ones suffering. Dating back to 5000 BCE was the first treatment preformed on record, showing that one would chip a hole into the human skull to release evil spirits. Later on, the Ancient Egyptians

This caused them to treat them poorly. They would try to hide them from the rest of the world in fear of being publicly ridiculed and put to shame. They would hide them in the cellars, lock them in rooms, hand them off to servants, or abandon them on the streets. Many religions and groups of people believe that people suffering from mental illness were thought to have bad luck. “Historically in Greece, 'a mentally ill [family] member implies a hereditary, disabling condition in the bloodline and threatens [the family’s] identity as an honourable unit,” therefore treatment of the mentally ill in these cultures meant a life of hidden confinement or abandonment by one’s family (Blue 305).'” (qtd. in Foerschner, 2010). This stigma attached to mental illness is still present today in society

For many centuries, religious, spiritual and cultural beliefs preponderated societal actions and beliefs for those with mental illnesses. In ancient Greece, those with severe mental illnesses were abused because of the perpetuating belief that angry gods influenced them. Those suffering from mild mental illness faced disdain and humiliation. Prince (2003) even asserts “the cultural values of ancient Greece were precursors to the modern stigma that is associated with mental illness” (Kirby & Keon, 2004). In the middle ages, it was the belief that mental illness was routed to supernatural causes. It was believed that these individuals should be burned at the stake, hanged or decapitated to release their soul from being possessed by demons. The beliefs changed in the 17th and early 18th centuries to one that the physical state was impaired by those with mental illnesses because they had excessive passion they inflicted on themselves. These individuals were often physically restrained

“It was believed that the body has four humors- Phlegm, blood, yellow bile, and black bile. In a healthy person these were in balance, while illness was caused by too much or too little of one of them. ”(barber 5). Any type of illness was explained by the four humors. In that time period, they didn't know any other way to explain mental or physical illness, so they relied of thing are now proven wrong to explain them.

Through the course of time, mental illnesses have always been in existence due to varying factors and causes. However, as time has passed, the perceptions and available treatments for mental illnesses have also changed as new technology was developed. By looking at the treatments and perceptions of mental illnesses in the early 20th century, we can learn how to properly treat and diagnose not only mental disorders but also other conditions as well as show us the importance of review boards and controlled clinical trials.

answers though science, the Greeks thought that sickness was a punishment and healing a gift from

I was and continue to be socialized to be mentally ill, or neuroatypical. Being neuroatypical is a trait that is both ascribed and achieved. Some aspects of mental illness are chemical or environmentally triggered, so my OCD and mood disorder are both directly a part of my biology. Similarly, my anxiety it is thought to be genetic and my PTSD is obviously caused by trauma. These things seem concrete and ingrained enough in my being that I can call mental illness ascribed, but at the same time, there are aspects which seem to render them achieved. The diagnoses themselves are assigned by various doctors. However, these diagnoses are clearly constructs, because the diagnostic criteria and language have evolved over time, and I personally have had several damaging misdiagnoses over the course of my life (the treatment for which exacerbated my other conditions). Often, diagnoses are based on the patient 's compliance or identity (such as race, class, and gender), and highly stigmatized diagnoses can be given out by doctors who display strong biases or are more willing to want to abuse a patient in psychiatric setting. Recently, five doctors disagreed about a specific diagnosis for me, though there was a general consensus among four of them that it was some form of bipolar disorder. The fifth saw me when I was in an abrasive and highly anxious part of my manic episode, which made him treat me more poorly and give a diagnosis that all of my other healthcare providers disagreed

Hippocrates of Cos, a physician in ancient Greece, is considered to be the father of medicine due to his many contributions to the field in his life. Through research and different experiments he was able to conclude many different principles, including on of the most important: the four humors. By observing reactions to different illnesses, sometimes leading the patient to die, he was able to develop the theory. His theory of the four humors was that the human body was filled with four basic substances, or humors, that when in balance indicate the person is healthy. If there was too little or too much of one of the four, a disease or disability would result. The four humors of Hippocratic medicine are black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm. Before the humors were introduced, many people believed that the source of illness was punishment from the Gods. It wasn’t until after Hippocrates’ introduction to medicine that the field stepped away from religion and into science.

Hippocrates denied the theory that supernatural forces had an influence on mental illness and instead created the theory of humourism. This was probably in the time period that medical scientists tried to explain everything through science and denied anything that had to with religion. Hippocrates’ humoral theory stated that the body had four humors or fluids: phlegm (water), blood, black bile (from kidneys and spleen), yellow bile (choler from the liver) (“Humorism”). It was believed that optimal health could be achieved if there was a balance in these humors and any disease the person had, either mentally or physically, was caused by the imbalance of these humors (“Humorism”). The humoral theory made sense theoretically because these fluids were essential to the human body in order for it to fully operate. In the fashion of treating mental illness gruesomely, the cure of the imbalance of the four humors was through the process of bloodletting. Bloodletting was the process of slicing and opening a vein with a lancet and allowing the blood to flow out into a bucket (Cohen). Bloodletting could also be considered the earliest form of donating blood albeit in a more painful

The ancient Greeks viewed mental illness as having derived from the gods (Griffith 625; Ludwig 4; Neihart; Weisberg 361). According to them, different forms of madness provoked various types

Greek physician, Hippocrates, in the 5th century B.C., presented a new theory that mental illness was not solely rooted in religion or superstition, but instead, that environmental and/or occupational circumstances contributed to these behavioral abnormalities. It was at this time that medications and environmental adjustments were introduced as viable treatment plans. Around this same time, many books in the Old Testament were being written. The Bible mentions on