When did the history of mental health start?
History of Mental Illness. Riding on Pasteur’s breakthrough germ theory of the 1860s and 1870s and especially on the early 20th century discoveries of vaccines for cholera, syphilis, and typhus, the mental hygiene movement reverted to a somatogenic theory of mental illness.
What are the main causes of mental disorders?
Greek physician, Galen (A.D. 129-199) said mental disorders had either physical or mental causes that included fear, shock, alcoholism, head injuries, adolescence, and changes in menstruation.
How was mental illness viewed in the past?
History of Mental Illness. Most inmates were institutionalized against their will, lived in filth and chained to walls, and were commonly exhibited to the public for a fee. Mental illness was nonetheless viewed somatogenically, so treatments were similar to those for physical illnesses: purges, bleedings, and emetics.
What is the history of mental illness in Europe?
Between the 11th and 15th centuries, supernatural theories of mental disorders again dominated Europe, fueled by natural disasters like plagues and famines that lay people interpreted as brought about by the devil.
What was the first beliefs for the cause of mental illness?
Mental illnesses were well known in ancient Mesopotamia, where diseases and mental disorders were believed to be caused by specific deities.
What influences our thoughts about mental illness?
Biological factors, such as genes or brain chemistry. Life experiences, such as trauma or abuse. Family history of mental health problems. Your lifestyle, such as diet, physical activity, and substance use.
How mental illness was viewed in the past?
TREATMENT IN THE PAST. For much of history, the mentally ill have been treated very poorly. It was believed that mental illness was caused by demonic possession, witchcraft, or an angry god (Szasz, 1960). For example, in medieval times, abnormal behaviors were viewed as a sign that a person was possessed by demons.
What are the three etiological theories in the history of mental illness?
Historical Explanations Throughout history there have been three general theories of the etiology (causes) of mental illness: supernatural, somatogenic, and psychogenic.
What causes mental illness?
Stressful life situations, such as financial problems, a loved one's death or a divorce. An ongoing (chronic) medical condition, such as diabetes. Brain damage as a result of a serious injury (traumatic brain injury), such as a violent blow to the head. Traumatic experiences, such as military combat or assault.
What is your thought about mental health?
Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.
What were the two major historical perspectives regarding the cause of abnormal behavior?
20th – 21st Centuries. The decline of the moral treatment approach in the late 19th century led to the rise of two competing perspectives – the biological or somatogenic perspective and the psychological or psychogenic perspective.
When was mental health first discovered?
The Realization of an Idea. The term mental hygiene has a long history in the United States, having first been used by William Sweetzer in 1843. After the Civil War, which increased concern about the effects of unsanitary conditions, Dr.
How has our understanding of mental illness changed over time?
One major change has been the shift in society's attitudes. People are becoming more accepting of mental health problems and more supportive of people with issues. They are more aware of common mental disorders such as depression and anxiety, and are more willing to talk to health professionals and seek treatment.
When did the stigma of mental illness begin?
A scientific concept on the stigma of mental disorders was first developed in the middle of the 20th century, first theoretically and eventually empirically in the 1970s.
How was mental illness viewed in the 1800s?
In early 19th century America, care for the mentally ill was almost non-existent: the afflicted were usually relegated to prisons, almshouses, or inadequate supervision by families. Treatment, if provided, paralleled other medical treatments of the time, including bloodletting and purgatives.
How was mental illness treated in the early 1900s?
The use of social isolation through psychiatric hospitals and “insane asylums,” as they were known in the early 1900s, were used as punishment for people with mental illnesses.
Who first discovered mental disorders?
Though the idea fell into oblivion for several centuries it re-emerged in the late 19th century for two reasons. First, German psychiatrist, Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926), discovered that symptoms occurred regularly in clusters which he called syndromes. These syndromes represented a unique mental disorder with its own cause, course, and prognosis. In 1883 he published his textbook, Compendium der Psychiatrie (Textboook of Psychiatry), and described a system for classifying mental disorders that became the basis of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) that is currently in its 5th edition (published in 2013).
What was Hippocrates' view on mental illness?
Hippocrates believed mental illnesses could be treated as any other disorder and focused on the underlying pathology.
What did Hippocrates believe about demonic possession?
Rejecting the idea of demonic possession, Greek physician, Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.), said that mental disorders were akin to physical disorders and had natural causes. Specifically, he suggested that they arose from brain pathology, or head trauma/brain dysfunction or disease, and were also affected by heredity. Hippocrates classified mental disorders into three main categories – melancholia, mania, and phrenitis (brain fever) and gave detailed clinical descriptions of each. He also described four main fluids or humors that directed normal functioning and personality – blood which arose in the heart, black bile arising in the spleen, yellow bile or choler from the liver, and phlegm from the brain. Mental disorders occurred when the humors were in a state of imbalance such as an excess of yellow bile causing frenzy/mania and too much black bile causing melancholia/depression. Hippocrates believed mental illnesses could be treated as any other disorder and focused on the underlying pathology.
What was the supernatural view of prehistoric cultures?
Prehistoric cultures often held a supernatural view of abnormal behavior and saw it as the work of evil spirits, demons, gods, or witches who took control of the person. This form of demonic possession was believed to occur when the person engaged in behavior contrary to the religious teachings of the time.
What was the treatment for melancholia in the 1950s?
He noticed that after experiencing a severe shock his memories had changed and in published work, suggested physicians study electric shock as a treatment for melancholia. Beginning in the 1950s, psychiatric or psychotropic drugs were used for the treatment of mental illness and made an immediate impact.
What was Clifford Beers's struggle with?
Finally, in 1908 Clifford Beers (1876-1943) published his book, A Mind that Found Itself, in which he described his personal struggle with bipolar disorder and the “cruel and inhumane treatment people with mental illnesses received. He witnessed and experienced horrific abuse at the hands of his caretakers.
What was the most significant development in the realm of philosophy during the Renaissance?
The most noteworthy development in the realm of philosophy during the Renaissance was the rise of humanism, or the worldview that emphasizes human welfare and the uniqueness of the individual. This helped continue the decline of supernatural views of mental illness.
What are the three theories of mental illness?
Throughout history there have been three general theories of the etiology of mental illness: supernatural, somatogenic, and psychogenic. Supernatural theories attribute mental illness to possession by evil or demonic spirits, displeasure of gods, eclipses, planetary gravitation, curses, and sin. Somatogenic theories identify disturbances in ...
Who tried to convince people that witches were actually women with mental illnesses?
Johann Weyer and Reginald Scot tried to convince people in the mid- to late-16th century that accused witches were actually women with mental illnesses and that mental illness was not due to demonic possession but to faulty metabolism and disease, but the Church’s Inquisition banned both of their writings.
What is Philippe Pinel's philosophy?
A therapeutic regimen of improved nutrition, living conditions, and rewards for productive behavior that has been attributed to Philippe Pinel during the French Revolution , when he released mentally ill patients from their restraints and treated them with compassion and dignity rather than with contempt and denigration.
What is the DSM-III?
The DSM has undergone various revisions (in 1968, 1980, 1987, 1994, 2000, 2013), and it is the 1980 DSM-III version that began a multiaxial classification system that took into account the entire individual rather than just the specific problem behavior.
Why was instilling fear important?
As such, instilling fear was believed to be the best way to restore a disordered mind to reason. By the 18th century, protests rose over the conditions under which the mentally ill lived, and the 18th and 19th centuries saw the growth of a more humanitarian view of mental illness.
Where did the term "hypnotism" come from?
Derived from Franz Anton Mesmer in the late 18th century, an early version of hypnotism in which Mesmer claimed that hysterical symptoms could be treated through animal magnetism emanating from Mesmer’s body and permeating the universe (and later through magnets); later explained in terms of high suggestibility in individuals.
Who was the scientist who discovered the hysterical symptoms of a wandering uterus?
Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1815), influenced by contemporary discoveries in electricity, attributed hysterical symptoms to imbalances in a universal magnetic fluid found in individuals, rather than to a wandering uterus ( Forrest, 1999 ).
What are the limitations of a mental health study?
Limitations. The main limitation was exclusion of quantitative studies on mental health beliefs and those studies that are not published or are ongoing. An important limitation is the exclusion of articles fulfilling the criteria of the study but not available in English (no translation service was available).
What is mental health literacy?
Background. Mental health literacy is the beliefs and knowledge about mental health issues and their remedies. Attitudes and beliefs of lay individuals about mental illness are shaped by personal knowledge about mental illness, knowing and interacting with someone living with mental illness, and cultural stereotypes.
Psychoanalytic Traditions
- Sigmund Freud began the psychoanalytic method of investigate the cause of mental illness. The main aim of the psychoanalytic theory is to understand the unconscious part of the brain, and therefore, differentiate between personalities using the three characters, id, ego, and superego t…
Multi-Dimensional Approach
- The multidimensional approach to studying mental illness believes that the cause of any psychological problem cannot be identified singularly, but as a collection of issues that may trigger the problem. Hence, various factors can contribute to the cause of the mental illness (Eysenck, 2009). For instance, mental illness caused due to stress may be caused due to divorc…
Biological Approach
- With the publication of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Speciesin 1859, the idea of connectivity between the origins of all living beings revolutionized the thinking of the psychologists. The importance of heredity in Darwinian theory led to the imminent notion among psychologists that children usually carried some inherent quality derived from his/her parents (Eysenck, 2009). In a…
Psychological Approach
- The psychological approach to study mental illness began with Plato and Aristotle. However, it evolved with the behaviorialists in the US much later. Their approach entailed that scientific objective could find the root cause of a mental illness in human beings. However, this method was considered absurd. In the 1950s, the cognitive psychological approach developed with psyc…
Emotions Approach
- The emotional approach stresses on the influence of emotion in dictating the cause of the mental illness (Izard, 1991). Therefore, such psychological theory reasons that emotional state of mind is responsible for the mental illness that ails a patient. The main idea of the approach is that how emotions like joy, anger, fear, sadness, etc. determines the psychological state of human mind.
Social and Cultural Approach
- According to social and cultural psychological theory, mental illnesses transpire due to issues in the social network or in the perception of the cultural discourse of the patient. Social psychologists believe that social networks affect relations and hence control the process of social interaction. Hence, intergroup relations and cultural perceptions such as discrimination a…
Developmental Approach
- Sometimes psychologists believe that the symptoms of an illness may differ at various stages of the disorder. For instance, a problem of dissociative disorder in a child occurs due to different factors at different stages of the patient’s development. Hence, the cause of the illness differs at different developmental stages. Thus, the treatment and chances of recovery will also depend o…
Conclusion
- The theories of mental health have undergone a series of evolution over the ages. Psychologists have studied various facets of man’s character to develop a probable theory of defining the causes of mental illness. In the ancient and through the medieval ages, man assumed that mental illness was caused due possession by evil omen. However, advancement in science, these theor…
References
- Eysenck, M. (2009). Fundamentals of Psychology.New York: Psychology Press. Fraiberg, S., Adelson, E., & Shapiro, V. (1975). Ghosts in the nursery: A psychoanalytic approach to the problems of impaired infant-mother relationships. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry , 14(3), 387-421. Izard, C. E. (1991). The Psychology of Emotions.New York: Springer.
Section Learning Objectives
- Describe prehistoric and ancient beliefs about mental illness.
- Describe Greco-Roman thought on mental illness.
- Describe thoughts on mental illness during the Middle Ages.
- Describe thoughts on mental illness during the Renaissance.
1. Prehistoric and Ancient Beliefs
- Prehistoric cultures often held a supernatural view of abnormal behavior and saw it as the work of evil spirits, demons, gods, or witches who took control of the person. This form of demonic possession was believed to occur when the person engaged in behavior contrary to the religious teachings of the time. Treatment by cave dwellers included a technique called trephination, in w…
2. Greco-Roman Thought
- Rejecting the idea of demonic possession, Greek physician, Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.), said that mental disorders were akin to physical disorders and had natural causes. Specifically, he suggested that they arose from brain pathology, or head trauma/brain dysfunction or disease, and were also affected by heredity. Hippocrates classified mental diso...
3. The Middle Ages – 500 Ad to 1500 Ad
- The progress made during the time of the Greeks and Romans was quickly reversed during the Middle Ages with the increase in power of the Church and the fall of the Roman Empire. Mental illness was yet again explained as possession by the Devil and methods such as exorcism, flogging, prayer, the touching of relics, chanting, visiting holy sites, and holy water were used to r…
4. The Renaissance – 14th to 16th Centuries
- The most noteworthy development in the realm of philosophy during the Renaissance was the rise of humanism, or the worldview that emphasizes human welfare and the uniqueness of the individual. This helped continue the decline of supernatural views of mental illness. In the mid to late 1500s, Johann Weyer (1515-1588), a German physician, published his book, On the Deceits …
5. Reform Movement – 18th to 19th Centuries
- The rise of the moral treatment movementoccurred in Europe in the late 18th century and then in the United States in the early 19th century. Its earliest proponent was Phillipe Pinel (1745-1826) who was assigned as the superintendent of la Bicetre, a hospital for mentally ill men in Paris. He emphasized the importance of affording the mentally ill respect, moral guidance, and humane tr…
6. 20th – 21st Centuries
- The decline of the moral treatment approach in the late 19th century led to the rise of two competing perspectives – the biological or somatogenic perspective and the psychological or psychogenic perspective.
Chapter Recap
- In Chapter 1, we undertook a fairly lengthy discussion of what abnormal behavior is by first looking at what normal behavior is. What emerged was a general set of guidelines focused on mental disorders as causing dysfunction, distress, deviance, and at times, being dangerous for the afflicted and others around him/her. We acknowledged that mental illness is stigmatized in our …