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Feb 14, 1290
De Praerogtiva Regis
This law gave the King the sole possession of all lands of the "fools" and "mad" upon their death, rather than it passing onto their heirs. -
May 15, 1377
St Mary's of Bethlam
King Edward the 3rd set up this hospital for the mentally insane. Did not issue any treatment, was simply a refuge for those who society could not handle. -
John Bunyon writes "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners"
John Bunyon, in this book, writes about several religious experiences that are the first recordings of things that are widely considered now to by psychotic episodes. One of our only surviving sources of illness in the past, though they were not labeled as such in the book. -
David Hartley's Observations on Man, his Frame, his Duty, and his expectations
This book was one of the first to link the body and the mind. It linked the association of ideas theory of human mind to the nervous system. Sensations set up vibrations in our nerves which move rather like sound waves through air. While his ideas of how exactly it worked were pretty far off, the simple connection of mind and body was a huge leap forward for the field. -
"Legge sui pazzi" or "The Law of the Insane"
King Leopold of Belgium created this law, which made it illegal to use chains or physical punishment to those in mental hospitals. Prior to this, mistreatment of the mentally ill was rampant and a huge problem. This law helped set a precedent of treating them as more human. -
The Criminal Lunatics Act
People deemed as lunatics were not put in a normal jail when charged with a crime, but placed in a mental hospital. This formed the foundation of a criminally insane system that we still use to this day in most countries. -
The Regulation of Lunatic Asylums
France passed a law requiring a mental institution for every French province that also held a prison. This was the first French law to make sure that there was proper room for those mentally ill. Before this, they could be shipped far away from family and home, and now they could stay much closer, which is therapeutically much better for the patient. -
Journal of Psychological Medicine and Mental Pathology
Edited by Forbers Winslow. This was the first academic journal that sought out reasons and treatments for mental pathology. Marked a move from the mystic/religious to scienfitic within the field. -
Freud's "The Interpretation of Dreams"
Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist wrote the first book that outlined ways to verbally treat the mentally ill in a new method called "psychoanalysis". This involved dredging up past events in an attempt to make a link to the illnesses suffered in the present. -
"Shell-Shock"
World War 2 brought about an advent of people with mental illnesses as they returned from war. What we now know to be PTSD, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, was known then as being "shell-shocked". The large number of returning soldiers with the symptoms created a new national interest in therapy in the common man which largely led to the therapy we know today.
