PSY 1205 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Philippe Pinel, Bethlem Royal Hospital, Humorism
History and Research
Demonological Model
Every person with abnormal behavior was believed to be possessed by demons. Trephining was a
technique to rid people of these evil spirit. This was done by drilling a hole in a person’s head with a
trephine. The notion of supernatural causes of abnormal behavior, or demonology, was prominent in
Western society until Enlightenment.
Ancient Greece
• Hippocrates (460-377 BC)
o Father of Modern medicine
o Saw mental disorder as a disease arising from internal problems
o Four “Humors”: four bodily fluids (or humors) that were involved in a humans mental
functions; mental illness is due to an imbalance of humors
o Blood: excess led to a person having a sanguine personality – boisterous, bubbly, chatty,
openly emotional; treatment with blood led
o Yellow bile: excess led to a person being choleric – proud, egocentric, outgoing, frenzied
activity, compulsive, restless
o Black bile: excess led to a person being melancholic - moody, cautious, emotionally
sensitive
o Phlegm: excess led to a person being phlegmatic – quiet, slow, pragmatic, meek,
submissive introverts
Though scientists no longer subscribe to Hippocrates’s theory of bodily humors, his theory is important
because of its break from demonology. It foreshadowed the modern medical model, the view that
abnormal behavior results from underlying biological processes.
Medieval Times (476 – 1450 CE)
During the Middle Ages, it was held that abnormal behaviors were a sign of possession by evil spirits or
the Devil – this was part of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Religion made for the return of
demonological behavior. Abnormal behavior was again seen as a representation of demons. However,
to redeem the body from the devil an exorcism was performed.
Witchcraft (1400s – late 1600s)
Hallucinations or speaking out of turn made much of the public assume witchcraft. It was an explanation
for why women appeared abnormal. Church officials believed that witches made pacts with the Devil –
they were seen as voluntarily entering with the Devil and deserving torture. The floating test was the
method of determining witchcraft. However, there was not treatment and ended in death either.
Asylums (1400s – 1500s)
Local government or religious organizations had care facilities that looked after mental patients.
However, they were too small so the government helped switched from monasteries to asylums. This
was mostly a place to warehouse people and not actually treat. There was no intervention for these
mental patients and they stayed there for most of their life. The residents were chained to their beds
and left to lie in their own waste or to wander about unassisted. In one asylum, St. Mary’s of Bethlehem
Hospital for which the public could buy tickets and see the antics of inmates.
Reform Movement & Moral Therapy (late 1800s – mid-1900s)
During the late 1800s, people made a moral treatment movement. It was based on the belief that
providing humane treatment in a relaxed and decent environment could restore functioning. These
efforts were reinforced by:
• Jean Baptiste Pussin & Phillipe Pinel
o Argued that people who behave abnormally suffer from diseases and should be treated
humanely
Document Summary
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