History of Psychological Treatment

1. History of Psychological Treatment Jennifer Carstens

2. Ancient treatments • Most of treatments began with the belief that the affected person had an evil sprit in them, which was making them act abnormally. • The cure was to rid the spirits from the person’s body by means of trephination.

3. Trephination • Cutting into a person’s skull, typically done to people to experience extremely abnormal behavior (hearing voices, hallucinations, etc)

4. Greek & Roman Treatments500 BC- 500 AD • Greeks and Romans identified many psychological disorders such as melancholia, mania, dementia, hysteria, delusion, and hallucinations. • Focus was placed on the “Four Fluids”, Blood, yellow bile, black bile, and Phlegm.

5. Middle Ages500 AD- 1350 AD • The middle ages were classified as a time in extreme expansion of spiritualism and urbanization, but a contraction of science and medicine. • Mental illnesses were seen as a struggle between “good” and “bad” • The Dark Ages received its name from ongoing plagues and war, which led to mass madness. • Tarantism, Lycanthropy, and Exorcism were common during this time.

6. Tarantism • A condition where groups of people would start singing, convulsing, dancing, and rip off their clothing.

7. Lycanthropy • A condition where people believe that they are an animal and begin acting as such (howling, barking, pawing, etc) • Some people would even claim that they could feel course hair growing from all over their body.

8. Exorcism • An act where a member of the clergy tries to get a demon out of someone who is believed to be possessed. • This is typically done by beating, starvation, repetitive bible readings, and prayer. • Done in all major religions.

9. The Renaissance and Asylum1400 AD - 1700 AD • Characterized as a time of extreme cultural and scientific growth, and a decline of religious influence. • Rise of Asylums and specializations in mental health care. • Johann Weyer- first physician to specialize in illnesses of the mind. • First religious mental health facility- Gheel Belgium • First medical mental Asylum- Bethlehem Hospital, Spain.

10. Johann Weyer • Believed that the mind was susceptible to illness, just like the body. • First physician to specialize in the treatment of the mentally ill. • His most influential work is De PraestigiisDaemonum et Incantationibus ac Venificiis(On the Illusions of the Demons and on Spells and Poisons) published in 1563 • One of the only to speak out against persecution.

11. Gheel 1661 • One of the foremost important places for mental health (loving, humane approach). • Classified as a community asylum, that was supported by the church and community. • Fell due to lack of interest.

12. Bethlehem Hospital Early 15th century, Spain. • In this asylum, patients were bound in chains. • During certain phases of the moon, patients would be lined up and whipped in order to prevent violence. • The hospital became a tourist attraction, where people would pay to look at the howling and gibbering imamates • Lunatics' Towers, Vienna • La Bicetra in Paris

13. Lunatics' Towers in Vienna

14. La Bicetra in Paris • Continues to be a hospital

15. Types of Treatment Used in Asylums Rotating Chair- Placing someone in a chair, where they were spun around multiple times till they became sick. Shock treatments- throwing someone in ice cold water in order to “shock” their body. Crib- Patients in asylums were forced to stay in enclosed “cribs”.

16. 1800’s- A Time for Reform • Benjamin Rush, Dorothea Dix, and Nellie Bly were major reformers for Mental health. • Few hospitals were being built, the already built mental institutions were overcrowded. • America became more interested in mental health care, and health care reform. • Mental illness began to be seen as genetic diseases

17. Benjamin Rush “Father of American Psychiatry” • Pioneered several medical tools, such as a centrifuge. • Pioneered Occupational Therapy as well as a moral theory when dealing with the ill. • Discovered Savant Syndrome

18. Dorothea Dix • Lobbied on behalf of the mentally insane • Created Legislation for the first established state mental asylums

19. Nellie Bly • Actual name: Elizabeth Jane Cochran • Checked herself into a boardinghouse, where she pretended to have amnesia and have hallucinations, then was taken to a courtroom. • Upon examination, doctors said she was a lost cause “Undoubtedly insane”, and sent her to Bellevue Hospital Center where she experienced living conditions first hand. • She was released after 10 days and wrote, 10 Days in a Mad-house, which launched a federal investigation

20. 1900’s • The 1900’s were a time for revolutions in Hospitalization, Moral Management, as well as Society Cooperation & Interaction. • Early treatments included: lobotomies and primitive forms of electroshock therapy