History of Abnormal Psychology

By haleyjones
  • 3300 BCE

    Stone Age

    During the Stone Age, people believed that the cause of abnormal psychology was from demonology, gods, and magic. The people used trepanation, which is the chipping away an area of the skull to make a hole to let evil spirits be released.
  • 1500

    Middle Age

    During the middle age, people believed the cause of mental disorders were from witch craft, possession, and mixed beliefs. To cure a person, exorcisms were done by Greeks and Chinese to release a demon. Some people believed that it wasn't the devil causing psychological problems.

  • 16th Century

    The approach for mental disorders were asylums. Asylums were institutions that offered sheltered and support for people who were mentally ill.

  • 18th Century

    During the 1800s, it was decided that mental hospitals needed reform. In 1854, John P Grey believes that insanity is the result of physical causes, thus de-emphasizing psychological treatments.

  • 1900s

    In the nineteenth hundreds, Sigmund Frued publishes The interpretation of dreams. They had more humanitarian approaches, they began to care what patients thought.

  • 20th century

    In the 20th century, deinstutionalization began. Which was where patients became outpatients. They began using moral treatment and community health.