History Of Abnormal Psychology : Ancient Greek Times

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

Mental disorders have long been the Achilles heel of the medical world. With each case having some degree of uniqueness, physicians are often unable to fully treat these types of conditions with just a generalized medication or textbook treatment option. There are many competing theories as to how one falls ill to a mental disorder. Some claim that it occurs solely through chemical imbalances within a person’s brain, while others see it as a more wholistic problem that is the result of an endless possibility of differing factors. Through the characterization found within “Superstar” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” and the data shown in studies done by the Medical University of Lublin, it becomes evident that seemingly internal disorders, such as anorexia and hysteria, are caused, in reality, by the need for social control that develops in response to purely external factors such as daunting expectations or stressful lifestyle.

This research paper will examine the concepts of psychopathology, or abnormal psychology and how it deals with a various set of symptoms or behaviors that manifested by functional impairments in a person’s life. Psychological disorders (e.g. Major Depressive Disorder) and the causes of abnormal behaviour have been understood by a various different theories and have been documented throughout historical transformations. Additionally, this research illustrates the Causes of the Depression,

Emil Kraepelin was a German physiatrist who became the founder of modern scientific psychiatry, and Psychopharmacology. He was born in 1856, Neusreletiz in Northern Germany, he graduated and received his M.D. from the University of Wurzburg. Emil began his work in the field of psychopharmacology at Wilhelm Wundt’s laboratory at Leipzig University. Later, Kraepelin became the head of a clinic at the University of Dorpat where he began to study the clinical history of his patients with mental illnesses. It was then that he became interested in studying how the course of illnesses and the patterns of symptoms can help identify psychiatric disorders. Kraepelin began to view mental illness evident on individuals in a “clinical” view rather than through the

The biological model draws on traditional medicine and attempts to identify the presence of a ‘stable’ phenomenon called mental illness through scientific objectivity. One of the consequences of viewing

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

The goal of this course is to provide students with an overview of topics related to abnormal psychology. The primary emphasis of this course will be on classification of psychopathology and the symptoms associated with different syndromes.

Before logical thought was regularly applied to functions of the human body, people made sense of daily misfortunes by attributing them to the moods and wills of the gods. In the minds of the Greek, afflictions were the result of disobedience and to live in good health was a blessing that only divine intervention could provide (History of Medicine 1). Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine and healing, was often the one called upon in times of need. Asclepian temples were constructed in Greece and in the surrounding areas, and these sites of worship also became the centers of healing; Ill Grecians undertook lengthy pilgrimages to the temples in hopes that the God’s supposed restorative powers could ameliorate their tribulations (Greek Medicine 1). An orator at that time, Aeschines reported his encounter with godly healing by praising Asclepius: “No longer counting upon mortal skill, I placed all my hope in divinity. I came, Asclepius, into your sacred wood and I was cured in three of a wound I had in my head for a year” (Palatine Anthology 13). When cures were not left up to the divine, the rituals to rid a body of disease were primitive and mainly consisted of attempts to expel demons (Longrigg 14-16). Although the idea that sickness and religion are intertwined is

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.

Ever since my later adolescence years, I have always been intrigued by the diverse complexity of the human brain. Numerous days I have sat down obtrusively observing my surroundings just to satisfy my curiosity on how individuals think, reason and problem solve everyday life happenings. As such, when it was time to attend university, I decided to study psychology as a means of gaining knowledge and understanding about individuals’ cognitive processes and their behavior. During my undergraduate studies, for a particular reason, I was struck by Abnormal Psychology and spent hours thinking about the various disorders captured by the then Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM IV). I spent an awful lot of time trying to understand the differing disorders and how their impact on the behavior and thinking processes of individuals that are diagnosed with them.

Abnormal and clinical psychology are two branches in the field of psychological studies. In simple words, abnormal psychology can be defined as the study of people who engage in unusual behavior and emotional thoughts. These actions and thoughts are considered abnormal compared to those of other members of society, and they significantly interfere with their functioning in life. Clinical psychology goes hand in hand with abnormal psychology because it is the study that deals with the assessment and treatment of those abnormal actions. Learning about these branches of psychology can help us understand and predict behaviors of people who that are affected by these disorders. It is also essential to advance our knowledge to help assess the people who suffer these illnesses to lead a life of better quality. In this paper, a case study that entails a brief vignette of a 35 year old paralegal named Greg will be analyzed. According to concepts of abnormal and clinical psychology, Greg will be diagnosed with the psychological disorder of obsessive-compulsive disorder (more formally known as OCD) that might have originated in the anal stage of the psychoanalytic theory, for which cognitive behavioral therapy will be used as a possible treatment.

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

Psychological dysfunction is somewhat not satisfactory on the account of the behavior is contiuum. A more sensative impairment would not meet the standards for a disorder. Personal distress, by itself, this criteria doesn’t define abnormal behavior, because distress can be a normal reaction to a trumatic situation. Psychological diorders, by meaning, the suffering and distess is missing. Atypical or not culturally accepted is insufficient when it refers to someone such as a person with an extremely high IQ, who’s atypical but not dysfunctional. Culturally

The roots of psychology date back to Egypt and the Egyptian mystery system. Psychology has evolved from philosophy, medicine, theology, and science. Psychology evolved out of coalescence of natural science, and also the branch of philosophy which is known as epistemology, which is also known in the theory of knowledge. Psychology in its early times was devote and mainly focused to understanding the mind, as well as measuring it. After this later on in time, psychology focused on understanding behavior.