Post on 20-Jan-2016
transcript
What do you think you know about mental illness?
IFAPerspective of Mental
Health: The Past
In the past were known as an affliction that invaded a person’s mindLabels such as witches, evildoers, and lunaticsWays of dealing with mental illness:
Rituals performed by shamans, magicians, and priestsPotions to rid the body of “evil” spirits that had
invaded the psycheExorcisms were carried out
Mental Illness
Screenshot from “Exorcism of Emily Rose”
Mentally ill were possessed and being punished by God for wrongdoing
Prayer and ceremonies used in attempt to cure possession
Trepanation-procedure whereby a hole is drilled in the head in an attempt to release evil spirits
Ancient Greeks
Hippocrates 400 BC
(Greek Physician)
Mental disorders
originated from
imbalance of four
body fluids: blood,
phlegm, yellow
bile, and black bile
Term melancholy – state of depression or sadness; derived from word elements: melan, meaning “black”, and chole, meaning “bile”
Witchcraft and demonic possessions were the cause of insanity
TreatmentPersecutionRestraining, StarvationBeatingDrowning
Middle Ages5th to 15th Century
Belief that movements of the moon and the stars caused madness
Terms lunacy and lunaticDerived from the Latin word luna, meaning
moon
Renaissancce
Abnormal behavior was thought to be demonic possession
Resolution: “dunking test” (ultimate no win test)If the individual drowned, he/she wasn’t
possessedIf the individual did not drown, he/she was in
allegiance with the devil and must be stone to death
Colonial Times
This is when the special institution were built to house the mentally illInsane asylums
Unsanitary living conditionsMentally ill subjected to public beatings
London’s St. Marys of Bethlehem asylumKnown as “Bedlam” meaning noisy, confusion,
uproar
1500’s
1700’s French physician Philippe PenelIntroduction of the concept of exercise, fresh
air, and cleaner environment for mentally ill1840’s Dorothea Dix, American schoolteacher
Persuaded state legislatures to provide state funds for improved mental institutions
1883 Emil Kraeplin, German psychiatristDeveloped system for diagnosing and
classifying mental illness
A Few Centuries…..
Emil Kraeplin
Dorothea Dix