PSYCH-230 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Drapetomania, Dysesthesia, Demonology
Document Summary
Drapetomania meaning flight-from-home mania, was characterized by the presumably irrational urge to run away from slavery in the pursuit of freedom. Dysesthesia aethiopica, which was diagnosed when a slave engaged in the following behaviours: destroying his or her owner"s property, being disobedient, fighting with one"s master, or refusing to comply with work demands. It was common in the 1840s and 1850s for proslavery advocates to claim that. For cartwright and other proslavery defenders, any black slave who tried to. The uncontrollable urge to run away was considered a symptom of the mental escape must be crazy. disorder. Cartwright later argued that drapetomania could be prevented by beating the devil out of them, as well as amputation. Mental disorders were believed to be caused by: Events beyond the control of humankind such as eclipses, earthquakes, storms, fire, diseases were also regarded as supernatural.
