PSYC 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 54: Demon, Moral Treatment, Observable Universe
9 Feb 2021
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CHAPTER 54: THE HISTORY OF MENTAL ILLNESSES
Learning Objectives
• Identify what the criteria used to distinguish normality from abnormality are.
• Understand the difference among the three main etiological theories of mental illness.
• Describe specific beliefs or events in history that exemplify each of these etiological theories
(e.g., hysteria, humorism, witch hunts, asylums, moral treatments).
• Explain the differences in treatment facilities for the mentally ill (e.g., mental hospitals, asylums,
community mental health centers).
• Describe the features of the “moral treatment” approach used by Chiarughi, Pinel, and Tuke.
• Describe the reform efforts of Dix and Beers and the outcomes of their work.
• Describe Kräpelin’s classification of mental illness and the current DSM system.
History of Mental Illness
• Evolution of mental illness is cyclical
• If a behavior is considered normal depends on the context
o Changes with time and culture
• Past: sociocultural norms used to silence control/certain groups
• Now: focus more on whether behaviors is a threat rather than a cultural relavist view of
abnormal behavior
o Cultural relativist: cultural norms and values of a society can only be understood in
terms of their own context
• 3 theories of the etiology of mental illness (etiology: the causal description of all factors that
contribute to the development of a disorder or illness)
o Supernatural: from origins beyond the visible observable universe
▪ Evil spirits gods, sin, planets
o Somatogenic: from physical/bodily origins
▪ Illness, genetics, brain damage or imbalance
o Psychogenic: from psychological origins
▪ Traumatic and stressful experiences
▪ Maladaptive learned associations and cognitions
• Maladaptive: behavior that causes people physical/emotional harm,
prevent function (AKA dysfunctional)
• Timeline:
o Trephination: drilling of a hole in the skull (for treating psychological disorders)
▪ Earliest supernatural explanation for mental illness
▪ Allows trapped evil spirits to escape
▪ 6500 BC
o 2700 BC: Chinese medicine: yin and yang
▪ Imbalance of positive/negative forces
o 1900 BC: Mesopotamian and Egyptian papyri
▪ Hysteria: Wandering uterus
▪ Strong smelling substances to lure back to proper location
o Temple attendance with religious healing ceremonies
o Hebrews: madness was a punishment from god
o 400 BC: Hippocrates believed in humourism: illness stemmed from imbalance in
humours (4 essential bodily fluids: blood, yellow bile, black bile, phlegm)
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