Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The history of treating mental illnesses dates as far back as 5000 B.C.E. with the evidence of “trephined skulls.” In the ancient world cultures, a well-known belief was that mental illness was “the result of supernatural phenomena”; this included phenomena from “demonic possession” to “sorcery” and “the evil eye”.
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.
Western psychiatry emerged as a medical specialty caring for the mentally ill over the course of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This emergence was a contingent process, dependent on the co-occurrence of three historical developments that together shaped the young discipline.
Departing from a simplistic view centred on supernatural causes, modern theories in the early 20th century began to recognize mental disorders as unique disease entities, and two main theories of psychodynamics and behaviorism emerged as potential explanations for their causes.
Anti-psychiatrists insisted that mental health could be better achieved by the establishment of therapeutic communities (such as Cooper’s Shenley Hospital for young schizophrenics between 1962 and 1967) that were anti-hierarchical, people-led, positive and open to the worlds of psychotics.
A landmark in the history of psychiatry, Pinel’s Traité Médico-philosophique sur l’aliénation mentale ou la manie (A Treatise on Insanity) called for a more humane approach to the treatment ...
Historically, the story of perceptions, beliefs, and treatment of mental illness is a tale worthy of a Stephen King novel. Sadly, it is not a novel but a true story. The understanding of mental health has evolved from possession by evil spirits to genetics to modern-day medicine.