A Short History of the Approach to Mental Illness

How ancients dealt with abnormal behavior: *Rituals were performed by shamans, magicians, & priests – Potions were given to rid the body of “evil” spirits – Exorcisms were carried out

Trepanation A procedure whereby a hole is drilled in skull to release the evil spirits.

Trepanation -90% survival rate. -Has been found in skulls all over the world -Has existed since ancient times -Still practiced today !

Ancient Greeks believed: -Mentally ill were possessed & being punished by gods for wrongdoing -Prayer could cure possession

Greek physician, Hippocrates - Was the first to establish the brain as the seat of consciousness - believed that the origin of mental disorders was an issue in the brain - Advocated exercise and tranquillity for healing

Middle Ages: Causes of mental illness included: -Supernatural causes such as demons -Witchcraft and sorcery -Mass hysteria -Melancholy and stress..

Abnormal behavior was evidence of devil’s work— treatment was responsibility of the church

Treatments for mental illness included: - Exorcism. - Shaving the pattern of a cross in the head-hair. - Believe that those suffering from mental illness could benefit from hearing mass. -Drinking ice-cold water. -Do other things to make the demon uncomfortable and want to leave

Humorism was also believed at this time - human health is driven by four different bodily fluids known as humors - have to be in perfect balance. -

The four humors were -A) Black bile Linked to melancholy (moody, anxious, sad) -B) Yellow bile Linked to phlegmatic (careful, peaceful, calm) -C) Phlegm Linked to sanguine (sociable, talkative, outgoing) – D) Blood Linked to choleric (strong, aggressive, active)

-The levels of these humors would fluctuate in the body, depending on what they ate, drank, inhaled, did -Humor imbalances caused physical and personality changes -Monasteries, which led medical research and practice in Medieval Europe had extensive herb gardens for the production of remedies - certain herbs were ascribed to a humor. -Believed that God would provide relief for every disease

Renaissance - a time when science flourished. - started to believe there were other reasons for mental illness beyond demonic possession - could be affected by the moon ill began to emerge at the end of the period.

Renaissance - German physician, Johann Weyer (1515 – 1588 C.E.), was the first doctor to specialize in mental illness - considered to be the founder of modern psychopathology (the scientific study of mental disorders) Hospitals to care for the mentally ill began to emerge at the end of the period. Renaissance - German physician, Johann Weyer (1515 – 1588 C.E.), was the first doctor to specialize in mental illness - considered to be the founder of modern psychopathology (the scientific study of mental disorders) - Hospitals to care for the mentally ill began to emerge at the end of the period.

1500s… - Some progress was made in England and Belgium to care for the sick - deteriorated by the mid-sixteenth century when asylums began to replace hospitals. - The first asylum was founded in Spain

1500s… - In London, 1547, Henry VIII opened Bethelehem Hospital - pronounced Bedlam by the locals - the word "Bedlam" started being used for lunatic asylums in general, and later for a scene of uproar and confusion.

In colonial times (early 1800s), people who behaved abnormally were thought to be in league with the devil! Only a “dunking test” could resolve the allegation.

If the “possessed” woman did not drown, she was thought to be in league with the devil. Dunking test...the ultimate no-win situation.

1840s - -… a woman ‘in the horrid process of tearing off her skin by inches; her face, neck, and person, were thus ‘disfigured to hideousness’...a man confined in an outbuilding next to the ‘dead room,’ with corpses for his companions …people penned in cold, filthy sheds, without furnishings, daylight, or fresh air …people chained to the wall for so long that they resembled wild animals more than human beings.”

1840s Dorthea Dix American Schoolteacher - Campaigned for humane treatment of mentally disturbed for over 40 years -Persuaded legislature to provide state funds for improvement of mental institutions

Late 1800s Many asylums had started out with good care and few patients Overcrowded, underfunded, overwhelmed staff After Civil War in the US, many soldiers admitted to asylums suffering PTSD Conditions became atrocious

Late 1800s Many asylums had started out with good care and few patients Overcrowded, underfunded, overwhelmed staff After Civil War in the US, many soldiers admitted to asylums suffering PTSD Conditions ultimately became atrocious

Nellie Bly Nellie Bly was an investigative journalist in the late 1800s. She was looking for her big break and was approached by a New York newspaper to expose the terrible conditions in mental institutions So she feigned insanity to get the inside scoop on the Blackwell Island’s women’s insane asylum in New York.