History of Mental Illness and Treatment

1. History of Mental Illness and Treatment

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. Enlightenment (Age of Reason) • Reason and the scientific method finally replaced superstition as primary way of understanding the world. • Anton Mesmer • invention of hypnosis

6. Late 1700s – 1800s • While research and treatment continued, society placed an emphasis on removal of the mentally ill, which gave rise to insaneasylums. • Bedlam Hospital – after an investigation into the “madhouses of England,” Bedlam became the prototype of the injustices of mental hospitals.

8. Restraints • “Straight Jacket”

9. Restraints

10. Emerging Treatments • Rocking Chair Therapy

11. 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.