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Treatment of mental illness in ancient Greece was a new and experimental process due to the lack of modern-day tools and technology that allow doctors to identify these mental ailments. Some ancient physicians didn't understand what part of the body was responsible for the strange behavior and turned to prayer and forgiveness from the gods.
The four temperaments clockwise from top left (sanguine; phlegmatic; melancholic; choleric) according to an ancient theory of mental states. In ancient Greece, disease was thought due to an imbalance in the four basic bodily fluids, or humors. Personality types were similarly thought to be determined by the dominant humor in a particular person.
The basis of the current conceptualisation of manic-depressive illness can be traced back to the 1850s; on January 31, 1854, Jules Baillarger described to the French Imperial Academy of Medicine a biphasic mental illness causing recurrent oscillations between mania and depression, which he termed folie à double forme ('dual-form insanity'). [12]
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]
Hippocrates and other ancient physicians described melancholia as a distinct disease with mental and physical symptoms, including persistent fears and despondencies, poor appetite, abulia, sleeplessness, irritability, and agitation. [4] [5] Later, fixed delusions were added by Galen and other physicians to the list of symptoms.
In the nineteenth century, female hysteria was considered a diagnosable physical illness in women. It is assumed that the basis for diagnosis operated under the belief that women are predisposed to mental and behavioral conditions; an interpretation of sex-related differences in stress responses. [2]
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During the 5th century BCE, mental disorders, especially those with psychotic traits, were considered supernatural in origin, [5] a view which existed throughout ancient Greece and Rome. [5] The beginning of psychiatry as a medical specialty is dated to the middle of the nineteenth century, [ 6 ] although one may trace its germination to the ...