Historical approaches
Aetiology of mental disorder
Aetiology : the origin or cause of a disorder
Prehistory:
Possession by evil spirits
Trephination
Exorcism
Ancient Greece and rome:
Hippocrates (470-377B.C) :
‘father’ of modern Western medicine, concept of the 4 humours
Mental disorders are treatable like any other disease of the body- brain pathology,
head trauma, genetics
Galen (129-198 A.D.)
Hippocratic – Galenic Approach
- Humoural theory of disorders
4 humours::
Middle ages
Continuation of early ideas e.g. humours
, - Recognised the role of environmental factors (emotional shock, physical
illness or injury, grief)
- Treatments : bleeding, purging, whipping
Influence of the church
- “madness” was a moral failing, evidence of sin
- Evidence of witchcraft or possession by the devil
- Treatments : exorcism, fasting, prayer
First asylums start to appear to house the mentally ill in the late middle ages
Renaissance:
Humanism – worldview emphasising human welfare.
- Decline of supernatural explanations for mental illness
Asylums : places set aside for people with mental disorder
Patients treated almost as inmates
Hospital of Saint Mary of Bethlehem - ’bedlam’
Very harsh inhumane conditions: filthy, furnished with straw, patients chained to
walls or locked in small boxes
Public show for visitors
Reform movement – moral treatment
Pinel (1745-1826):
Unchained inmates at La Bicetre Hispital
Advocated moral guidance and humane techniques
William Tuke (1732-1822)
Established the York retreat in England
County asylums act of 1845
Let ‘inmates’ be free, allowing them to pray, exercise …
Dorothea Dix (1802-1887)
Mental hygiene movement
Emergence of modern views
Richard von Kraft Ebing (1840-1902)
Link bet general paresis and syphilis
Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926)
Importance of brain pathology in psychological disorders and looked into the cures
System for classifying symptoms into discrete disorders or ‘syndromes’
Measured effect of drugs on disordered behaviour
Contemporary approaches
Aetiology of mental disorder
Aetiology : the origin or cause of a disorder
Prehistory:
Possession by evil spirits
Trephination
Exorcism
Ancient Greece and rome:
Hippocrates (470-377B.C) :
‘father’ of modern Western medicine, concept of the 4 humours
Mental disorders are treatable like any other disease of the body- brain pathology,
head trauma, genetics
Galen (129-198 A.D.)
Hippocratic – Galenic Approach
- Humoural theory of disorders
4 humours::
Middle ages
Continuation of early ideas e.g. humours
, - Recognised the role of environmental factors (emotional shock, physical
illness or injury, grief)
- Treatments : bleeding, purging, whipping
Influence of the church
- “madness” was a moral failing, evidence of sin
- Evidence of witchcraft or possession by the devil
- Treatments : exorcism, fasting, prayer
First asylums start to appear to house the mentally ill in the late middle ages
Renaissance:
Humanism – worldview emphasising human welfare.
- Decline of supernatural explanations for mental illness
Asylums : places set aside for people with mental disorder
Patients treated almost as inmates
Hospital of Saint Mary of Bethlehem - ’bedlam’
Very harsh inhumane conditions: filthy, furnished with straw, patients chained to
walls or locked in small boxes
Public show for visitors
Reform movement – moral treatment
Pinel (1745-1826):
Unchained inmates at La Bicetre Hispital
Advocated moral guidance and humane techniques
William Tuke (1732-1822)
Established the York retreat in England
County asylums act of 1845
Let ‘inmates’ be free, allowing them to pray, exercise …
Dorothea Dix (1802-1887)
Mental hygiene movement
Emergence of modern views
Richard von Kraft Ebing (1840-1902)
Link bet general paresis and syphilis
Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926)
Importance of brain pathology in psychological disorders and looked into the cures
System for classifying symptoms into discrete disorders or ‘syndromes’
Measured effect of drugs on disordered behaviour
Contemporary approaches
