Mental Health History

In early American history, individuals with mental illnesses have been neglected and suffered inhuman treatments. Some were beaten, lobotomized, sterilized, restrained, in addition to other kinds of abuse. Mental illness was thought to be the cause of supernatural dreadful curse from the Gods or a demonic possession. Trepanning (the opening of the skull) is the earliest known treatment for individuals with mental illness. This practice was believed to release evil spirits (Kemp, 2007). Laws were passed giving power to take custody over the mentally ill including selling their possessions and properties and be imprisoned (Kofman, 2012). The first psychiatric hospital in the U.S. was the Pennsylvania Hospital where mentally ill patients were left in cold basements because they were considered not affected by cold or hot environments and restraint with iron shackles. They were put on display like zoo animals to the public for sell by the doctors (Kofmen, 2012). These individuals were punished and isolated and kept far out of the eyes of society, hidden as if they did not exist. They were either maintained by living with their families and considered a source of embarrassment or institutionalized

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

Before the 1400s psychological issues, mental health problems, were viewed as a connection with the devil. The public viewed people with health problems as being possessed by a demon (Dualdiagnosis). Mental health wasn’t known in this time period, so people acting strange from the general public stood out. These people were treated in a few different ways: exorcism, murder, imprisonment, and trephining skulls; trephined skull is when a small hole is made in the skull to release spirits. (Lumen Learning). Everyone of these ways are very horrendous, but still very true to how mental ill people were treated. As a result, all of the treatments involved the mentally ill person dying or suffering. Mental ill people wasn’t understood at all in this

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.

History. Some of the earliest evidence of schizophrenia were seen in the Bible, and Greek and Latin texts. In the Bible, people were accused of being demonically possessed or holy based on the visions they saw (if visions involved Jesus). In Greek mythology, individuals were said to be punished by the Gods of they had symptoms of schizophrenia. Between years 1450-1830 in Europe, and North and South America, people were accused of being witches; similarly, in France, people were thought to have reverted to beasts. Most early treatments ranged from exposure to music and philosophy to torture and killings. However, in Egypt, schizophrenia was seen as a disease of the heart and uterus caused by pus, poop, or demons. While the Egyptians were incorrect in their diagnosis of the root cause of schizophrenia, at least they treated it as a medical issue. While there was confirmation of the existence of schizophrenia, the prevalence was never noted because of stigmas and how difficult it was to diagnose. Many symptoms could be confused with symptoms of drunkenness, drug usage, and even other Major Depressive Disorders. It was not until the late 1800s and mid 1900s that Schizophrenia was adequately addressed.

The Greeks used to look at mental illness as an organic problem, but this point of view was changed drastically during the Middle Ages, after the Bubonic Plague. After this epidemic, all diseases were considered to originate from the supernatural; spirits, witches, demons, and even God himself were put to blame. After all, in their way of thinking, nothing so terrible happened so simply. It was during that time that people misdiagnosed mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, etc. as demon

Other practices such as that of a shaman were exorcisms and other operations. In the time of the Romans and Greeks, they viewed abnormalities as a natural cause. One man in particular known as Hippocrates believed this and he began expanding his idea that these abnormalities were caused by a brain pathology that linked with a natural cause illness that developed the abnormality. Treatment would then call for a better and healthier diet and lifestyle. In the middle ages, views of abnormalities came back to the idea of the belief in demons. This was because the church had come to a rise and controlled most of the education system of the people. Like the ancient views of abnormalities the middle age brought back the idea of demonology and performing exorcisms. After the Middle Ages started to wind down, the Renaissance period began to rise and demonology was slowly decreasing. It was believed in this period that the mind was likely to obtain a sickness as much as the body was. Something was influencing the mind and body to become sick and ill, causing these abnormalities. This time period also had shrines that would welcome and care for people who

For example, someone who was too temperamental suffered from too much blood and thus blood-letting would be the necessary treatment. Psychogenic relates to traumatic or stressful experiences, maladaptive learned associations and cognitions, or distorted perceptions. The etiological theories determine the care and treatment the mentally ill receive. Though the Greek physician Galen (AD 130-201) rejected the notion of a wandering uterus, he agreed with the theory of an imbalance of the humors causing mental illness. Galen also opened the door for psychogenic explanations, however, by allowing the experience of psychological stress as a potential cause of abnormality. These theories were ignored for centuries as physicians attributed mental illness to physical causes throughout the most of the millennium. Beginning in the 13th century, mentally ill women were to be

The effect of the Hippocrates faded and the way people viewed mental illnesses like depression were caused by demons and furious gods. Treatments involved hydrotherapy (baths) and behavior therapy. Later on in the years, scientific thinking about depression went backwards. During the Middle Ages most people thought that depression was caused the devil, demons, or witches. They also thought it was contagious. They treatments included cruel strategies such as exorcisms, drowning, and burning. Some people with depression were tied up and locked away in insane asylums. In Rashmi Nemade’s article it is expressed that in 1621, Robert Burton had published “Anatomy of Melancholy” and he explained some of the causes of depression. He expressed that

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

Throughout the centuries, the medicines used to treat madness have varied; however, the ultimate treatment has remained the same: negligence or ignorance. During the 14th and 15th centuries, mental illness was viewed as an inhabitation of an individual by demons or evil spirits; the method utilized to cure this ailment was a combination of exorcism and rituals. The patients were usually placed in hospices then asylums. During the 16th through 20th centuries, mentally ill patients were not often treated; most were cared for by their respective communities. Towards the 19th and 20ths centuries, many patients were placed in asylums that did not focus on patients’ treatment. Unlike the society of his time, Shakespeare illuminates the realities

Greeks, such as Socrates and Plato, saw “demons” (things that made people act abnormally) as demigods who empowered certain individuals with abilities to alter events for the good or the bad or even be granted divine insight (Becker, 2001, p.45). Their contention was that whatever caused a person to do good by unknown, disturbing forces was to be considered virtuous while any wrong doing was looked upon as a vice (p.45). During the Italian Renaissance (1330-1550) similar thoughts about the difference between utter madness and enlightened individuals were shared (p.46). According to Musalek, Larach-Walters, Lépine, Millet, & Gaebel (2010) “the beginnings of psychopathology as a comprehensively organised and methodologically grounded science

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

Many have tried to argue for the existence of demonic possession, some even go so far as to say that demonic possession and psychological illnesses are fundamentally different. If mental illness and demonic possession are not simply different names for the same thing, then we are left with two possibilities. Either they are unrelated phenomena, or there is some kind of association between them. Of course, even if they are unrelated, they may still be confused with each other because of superficial similarities. If they are related, however, we need to understand the nature of the connection between them. Thus, we may be faced with a differential diagnostic problem. Either we need to distinguish which of these two entities we are dealing with, or else we need to identify which is the primary problem which led to the other as a secondary ‘complication.’

In the middle ages, somatoform disorders were believed to be a spiritual disorder of evil and demonic possession, and in the 17th century, it was said that “hysteria could stimulate any medical disease. Freud explained the syndrome of hysteria as “conversion of emotional distress into physical symptoms” Kallivayalil, R. A., & Punnoose, V. P. (2010).