-
5000 BCE
5000 B.C.E. Trephined Skulls
Mental illness was dated back as far as 5000 B.C.E with the evidence of trephined skulls. To where people used to drills holes in one's head to try and release the evil spirits or mental illness. -
500 BCE
5th and 3rd Century Hippocrates
In these centuries, the physician, Hippocrates, discovered that the mental illnesses come from natural occurrences in the body and he studies the pathology of the brain. He suggested that mental illness stemmed from the imbalances of the body. -
500
500 to 1400
During the Middle Age, theories about mental illness shifted back from physiology to spirituality. As Christianity spread, the ideas of sin dominated and the "psychotherapists" of this era were priests rather than physicians -
1400
Late 1400's to Late 1600's
From the late 1400's to the late 1600's, a common belief perpetuated by some religious organizations was that some people made pacts with the devil and committed horrible acts, such as eating babies. These people were considered to be witches and were tried and condemned by courts—they were often burned at the stake. -
Late 1900's
In the late 1700's, a French physician, Philippe Pinel, argued for more humane treatment of the mentally ill. He suggested that they be unchained and talked to, and that’s just what he did for patients in Paris in 1795. Patients benefited from this more humane treatment, and many were able to leave the hospital. -
19th Century
In the 19th century, Dorothea Dix led reform efforts for mental health care in the United States. She investigated how those who are mentally ill and poor were cared for, and she discovered an underfunded and unregulated system that perpetuated abuse of this population. Horrified by her findings, Dix began lobbying various state legislatures and the U.S. Congress for change. Her efforts led to the creation of the first mental asylums in the United States. -
1800's New Treatment
Around the turn of the 19th century, Europeans introduced a new approach to the treatment of the mentally ill known as “Moral Management.” This approach was based on the belief that the environment played a vital role in the treatment of the mentally ill. It was thought that the idea of a home and comfort would help treat the patients rather than using chains, or cellars. -
1861 Civil War
During the Civil War, many soldiers suffered from postwar trauma. Some wounds that were mentally and emotionally inflicted were hard to help compared to a physical wound. These inflicted soldiers were passed around from asylums. -
Rockhaven 1923
Rockhaven was a sanitarium exclusively for women. It opened in 1923. It pioneered an approach to mental illness through art and occupational therapy. Other sanitariums were places of strict confinement, the women at Rockhaven were encouraged to be social. -
Early 1930's Lobotomy
Ice baths and electro-shock therapy was used again. Lobotomies were introduced during this time period. This is when the connections are severed from the prefrontal cortex. -
1953 No Chains
The Mental Health America commissioned the casting of the Mental Health Bell from chains and shackles that restrained people with mental illnesses in decades past. They stopped using chains on the patients. -
1954 Medicine Introduced
In 1954, the medical community introduced an anti-psychotic drug for the treatment of the mentally ill. In rapid succession, other medical drugs also came into use. Making it possible to shorten a patient's time in a mental institution -
1963
Along with the creation of psychiatric hospitals, various organizations and acts. Mental Health America and the U.S. Community Mental Health Centers Acts of 1963, were created to improve the lives of the mentally ill in the US. -
2010s-2020s
Mental illness has increased over many years. It is now more common for one to be diagnosed with a mental health illness. Now every 1 in 6 young-adults are diagnosed with a mental health issue. The world today is different than it was hundred of years ago. So many tragic things have happened over the years that have caused these mental health problems -
2020 Statistics
Depression alone has cost the nation $210.5 billion annually. The most common mental illnesses in the U.S. are anxiety disorders, which affect 40 million adults, which is about 18.1% of the population. Half of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24
