Mental Disorders before the 1950’s

Heather Anderson

Supernatural Tradition

The Catholic Church had a great pull on saying they are evil people cursed by God

Treatment included exorcism; in which various religious rituals were performed to rid the victim of evil sprits.◦ shaving the pattern of a cross in there hair◦ Going to church“The convictions that sorcery and witches are causes of

madness and other evils continued into the 15th century, and evil continued to be blamed for unexplainable behavior, even after the founding of our own country, as evidenced by the Salem, Massachusetts, witch trials” –Abnormal Psychology

Demons and Witches

History

Often believed that psychopathology was caused by gods, demons and evil spirits.

Treatments were aimed at letting the spirits escape.

Prehistoric Views

Return of the notion of demon possession as causing mental illness

* Burned at the stake* Dunking, downing

As Renaissance emerged, roots of mental illness came to be viewed as physical (rather than spiritual)

However, individuals with mental illness still could not function

Middle Ages to the Renaissance

Crude, overcrowded and little more a warehouses

St. Mary’s of Bethlehem Hospital in London (established in the 1500’s)

*people were chained and overcrowded

*inhumane conditions*chaotic and full of bizarre behavior*a tourist attraction-where the term

“Bed’lam” (An Asylum) came from.

Rise of the Asylums

Paul Broca and his ‘area”-discovered brain area that is responsible for processing

Emil Kraepelin- Dementia praecox as first diagnosis of schizophrenia*First identified that mental disorders stem from multiple disorder*developed basis for modern diagnostic system

1800’s- More developed theories of mental illness

Phillipe Pinel (1748-1826; France) – instituted “moral treatment” of those in asylums, unchained them and sought to treat them with dignity

Dorothea Dix (1802-1887; USA)- lobbled for laws to protect individuals in asylums who at that point had no rights

* moved from prison-like(or actual prison) setting to more treatment oriented locales

Reform movements (Treatment starts)

Additional reform and rise of antipsychotic medications leading to deinstitutionalization

RECOVERY MOVEMENT- Grassroots movement initiated and maintained by individuals with mental illness◦ Peer support◦ Almed recovering function in the context of

mental illness

Modern Views