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Apulian pottery depicting Lycrugus of Thrace, an ancient Greek king driven mad by Dionysus [1]. Mental illness in ancient Rome was recognized in law as an issue of mental competence, and was diagnosed and treated in terms of ancient medical knowledge and philosophy, primarily Greek in origin, while at the same time popularly thought to have been caused by divine punishment, demonic spirits, or ...
Conceptually, mental insanity also is associated with the biological phenomenon of contagion (that mental illness is infectious) as in the case of copycat suicides. In contemporary usage, the term insanity is an informal, un-scientific term denoting "mental instability"; thus, the term insanity defense is the legal definition of mental instability.
Tuke was among the first persons to recognize an increase in the prevalence of insanity by making use of statistics to identify possible causes, which he clarifies in great detail in Insanity in Ancient and Modern Life. [1] As many of his other books, the book was used as a psychiatric workbook for classes on mental illness. [14]
Mental illnesses were well known in ancient Mesopotamia, [6] where diseases and mental disorders were believed to be caused by specific deities. [7] Because hands symbolized control over a person, mental illnesses were known as "hands" of certain deities. [7] One psychological illness was known as Qāt Ištar, meaning "Hand of Ishtar". [7]
Aboulomania (from Greek a– 'without' and boulē 'will') [1] is a mental disorder in which the patient displays pathological indecisiveness. [2] [3] The term was created in 1883 by the neurologist William Alexander Hammond, who defined it as: ‘a form of insanity characterised by an inertness, torpor, or paralysis of the will’.
In ancient Greece, many were divided over what they believed to be the cause of the illness that a patient faced. According to James Longrigg in his book Greek Medicine From the Heroic to the Hellenistic Age, [1] many believed that mental illness was a direct response from the angry gods. According to Longrigg, the only way to fight this ...
A Georgia appeals court has ruled a woman who was suffering from a psychotic break stemming from mental illness when she caused a fatal car crash can use an insanity defense at trial. Michelle ...
Glass delusion is an external manifestation of a psychiatric disorder recorded in Europe mainly in the late Middle Ages and early modern period (15th to 17th centuries). [1] People feared that they were made of glass "and therefore likely to shatter into pieces".