History of Mental Health
Area Mental Health (Applied)
Files
Notes
Historical views of Mental Health
Neolithic times
Cause of mental health: witchcraft + demonic possession
Treatment: trepanning (piercing a hole in the skull to release evil spirits)
Ancient Mesopotamia
Cause of mental illness: demonic possession
Treatment: magico-religious rituals (exorcism, incantation, prayer) done
by priest doctors
Ancient Egyptians
Showed advanced medical thinking in recognising that brain is the site
for mental functions + encouraging mentally ill people to join recreational
activities e.g. dances, concerts
Cause of mental illness: demons + disgruntled Gods
Treatment: magic
Ancient Egyptians + Early Greeks
Cause of hysteria in women: “wandering uterus”
Treatment: vagina was fumigated to lure it back to its proper position
Ancient Greece
Hippocrates created the first classification system for mental illness:
→ Cause: imbalance in bodily fluids (humours): blood, phlegm, black bile,
yellow bile
→ causing disorders like hysteria, mania, paranoia
History of Mental Health 1
, Middle ages (5th - 15th century)
Cause of mental illness: still imbalance in humours
Treatment: laxatives, emetics, leech bleeding to bring back body
equilibrium
17th + 18th century
Treatment: putting mentally ill people in workhouses + madhouse (e.g.
Bedlam)
Early 20th century
Freud’s theory about repressed trauma causing mental illness gained
popularity → treatment of psychoanalysis (talking therapies) were used:
dream analysis, hypnosis, free association to bring repressed thoughts +
feelings to the conscious mind
Modern psychiatric treatment: ECT (patients with depression/Sz) +
lobotomy (brain areas are cut out) + chlorpromazine (Sz patients)
1960s
Asylums lost support of government
Community care model was created
Defining abnormality
Abnormality definition 1: Statistical infrequency
Behavior which is rare is abnormal e.g. having an extremely low IQ
(which only a very small part of the population has) makes it a rare
behavior → person is considered abnormal by statistical infrequency
+) It’s easy to apply where there are reliable measurements: For example, an
IQ of less than 55 would be in 0.1% of the population, therefore it can be
considered abnormal.
-) It’s not useful as it doesn’t consider how people function in society: For
example, it wouldn’t be useful to consider a person with IQ lower than 55 or
higher than 145 abnormal as they may be able to function perfectly well in
their daily life without needing any intervention.
History of Mental Health 2
Area Mental Health (Applied)
Files
Notes
Historical views of Mental Health
Neolithic times
Cause of mental health: witchcraft + demonic possession
Treatment: trepanning (piercing a hole in the skull to release evil spirits)
Ancient Mesopotamia
Cause of mental illness: demonic possession
Treatment: magico-religious rituals (exorcism, incantation, prayer) done
by priest doctors
Ancient Egyptians
Showed advanced medical thinking in recognising that brain is the site
for mental functions + encouraging mentally ill people to join recreational
activities e.g. dances, concerts
Cause of mental illness: demons + disgruntled Gods
Treatment: magic
Ancient Egyptians + Early Greeks
Cause of hysteria in women: “wandering uterus”
Treatment: vagina was fumigated to lure it back to its proper position
Ancient Greece
Hippocrates created the first classification system for mental illness:
→ Cause: imbalance in bodily fluids (humours): blood, phlegm, black bile,
yellow bile
→ causing disorders like hysteria, mania, paranoia
History of Mental Health 1
, Middle ages (5th - 15th century)
Cause of mental illness: still imbalance in humours
Treatment: laxatives, emetics, leech bleeding to bring back body
equilibrium
17th + 18th century
Treatment: putting mentally ill people in workhouses + madhouse (e.g.
Bedlam)
Early 20th century
Freud’s theory about repressed trauma causing mental illness gained
popularity → treatment of psychoanalysis (talking therapies) were used:
dream analysis, hypnosis, free association to bring repressed thoughts +
feelings to the conscious mind
Modern psychiatric treatment: ECT (patients with depression/Sz) +
lobotomy (brain areas are cut out) + chlorpromazine (Sz patients)
1960s
Asylums lost support of government
Community care model was created
Defining abnormality
Abnormality definition 1: Statistical infrequency
Behavior which is rare is abnormal e.g. having an extremely low IQ
(which only a very small part of the population has) makes it a rare
behavior → person is considered abnormal by statistical infrequency
+) It’s easy to apply where there are reliable measurements: For example, an
IQ of less than 55 would be in 0.1% of the population, therefore it can be
considered abnormal.
-) It’s not useful as it doesn’t consider how people function in society: For
example, it wouldn’t be useful to consider a person with IQ lower than 55 or
higher than 145 abnormal as they may be able to function perfectly well in
their daily life without needing any intervention.
History of Mental Health 2
