Transcript History of Mental Illness and Treatment

History of Mental Illness and
Treatment
Ancient Theories
• Widespread belief in supernatural and
magical forces as cause of mental illness
– Exorcism – removal of evil that resides in an
individual, usually by counter-magic or prayer.
• Trephination
– Cutting a hole in the skull
to remove pressure
– Evidence that people
considered illness organic
Ancient Greece
• Hippocrates
– Looked to the brain as the explanation of our behavior
• Egyptians had thought the heart was the core of mental life
– Studied epilepsy, depression, psychosis, irrational
fears, and hysteria.
– Therapeutic techniques emphasized:
• Rest, bathing, dieting
– Hippocratic Oath – taken by doctors
when they graduate from medical
school
Middle Ages  Renaissance
• During a time dominated by the Catholic Church,
superstitious beliefs in devils and demons were
very strong.
– At the same time, Church charities often provided
care for the mentally ill.
• Idiot – inborn illness
• Lunatic – mental disabilities
not from birth
Enlightenment (Age of Reason)
• Reason and the scientific method finally
replaced superstition as primary way of
understanding the world.
– Anton Mesmer
• invention of hypnosis
Late 1700s – 1800s
• While research and treatment continued, society
placed an emphasis on removal of the mentally
ill, which gave rise to insane asylums.
• Bedlam Hospital – after an investigation into the
“madhouses of England,” Bedlam became the
prototype of the injustices
of mental hospitals.
Restraints
• “Straight Jacket”
Restraints
Emerging Treatments
• Rocking Chair Therapy
Reform Movement
• Philippe Pinel – Moral Treatment
– Kind treatment
– -minimum or restraint
• Benjamin Rush
– Signer of the Declaration of Independence
– Father of American Psychiatry
• Dorothea Dix
– Civil War nurse, campaigned
against poor treatment of the
mentally ill, especially restraints.