The Early Greek And Roman Empires

Depression and even thoughts of ending it all are something I have some experience with. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, possibly the most influential and powerful preacher of the Gospel of 19th century England battled depression throughout his entire life. In fact, after a tragedy at a venue where he was preaching in which seven people were killed, Spurgeon said “he doubted anyone had ever passed as close to madness as he and yet

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

As you will see in this paper, mental illness has been a serious situation for many years. Over the years, there have been different thoughts relating to the causes of mental illness including what the actual situation is and observance of how to treat the mentally ill. This paper will inform you of three different historical periods: Colonial America, Depression & the New Deal and War & Prosperity in which an important aspect of mental health happened in each. I will include some religious and economic information for each period due to the relationship that religion and economy had to the way mental illness was viewed and treated in those periods.

It appears that psychological, social, and biological factors will all play a role into the various degrees that cause depression. Many theorists believe that the depression

The video on YouTube named “THE ANCIENT GREEKS - ENGINEERING AN EMPIRE - Discovery History Science (full documentary)” by AncientDiscoveryHistory tells the story of the Ancient Greece. The video mentions that for over one thousand years, the charismatic and strong people of Greece made the most advanced technological wonders that the world has ever seen. Greece is a country of islands and city-states that was ruled by leaders whose thirst for greatness united people. However, Persia was the world’s superpower of that time. Persians were self-confident and multi-ethnic. Persia was a land power. A Persian invasion force of epic proportions came to Greece to add it to its empire, but Greece was ready to battle.

Through the Middle Ages and until the establishment of asylums, treatments for mental illness were offered by “humanistic physicians, medical astrologers, apothecaries, and folk or traditional healers” (MacDonald 175). Aside from secular exorcisms, prayers, charms, amulets, and other mystical treatments were available. Sedatives during the 17th century consisted of opium grains to “ease the torment” of mental illness (MacDonald 190).

Depression has always been a mystery to us; throughout time, we have tried to figure out what causes depression and how to cure it. In the 17th century, a British clergy and scholar named Robert Burton wrote a book called The Anatomy of Melancholy. He believed that depression or melancholy is produced by an excess of black

This shows the stigma that was put around mental health around that time. Dealing with depression, anxiety, or any sort of mental illness was interpreted as a terrible

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

The Neolithic era details the earliest treatment of mental illnesses (dating back as far as 10,200 BC). Men, women, and children alike from all parts of the world (the greatest evidence found in ancient Peru) underwent an invasive surgery, which involved physicians drilling a hole into the skull to reveal the Dura mater. This hole was supposedly an exit pathway for demonic spirits to leave the human body. This treatment of mental illness was know as trephination, and was the most widely accepted form of medical care for mentally ill patients (Feldman, 2001).

In Ancient Greece, the mentally ill were cared for at home by family members. The government was not responsible for their care. Around 400 BC, Hippocrates attempted to separate superstitions and religion from medicine by confirming the belief that a deficiency in one of the four essential bodily fluids were responsible for physical and mental illnesses. The essential fluids were blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. Hippocrates classified mental illnesses into four categories: epilepsy, mania, melancholia, and brain fever. Like other physicians and philosophers of his time, he believed that there was no shame in having a mental illness or that mentally ill people should be responsible for their actions. Between the 11th and 15th centuries,

Some thought that depression was caused by evil spirits so they used exorcism techniques such as beatings, restraints, and starvation.

A number of large-scale studies indicate that depression rates have increased worldwide over the past several decades. Furthermore, younger generations are experiencing depression at an earlier age than did previous generations. Social scientists have proposed many explanations, including changes in family structure, urbanization, and reduced cultural and religious influences.

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