The History of Mental Illness: 2000 BC - 21st Century

By aun_drea24
  • 2000 BCE

    Prehistoric Times 2000 BC

    Medical care and treatment involved persons performing rituals to cast out the spirits they believed to have caused the abnormal behaviors by individuals.
    Religious views influenced this era.
    Trepanation (drilling holes in the scull) was performed.
    No separation between religion & a person's wellness.
  • 500 BCE

    Ancient Greece and Rome: 500 BCE

    During this time several mental disorders were recognized.
    - Depression <melancholy>
    - Dementia <madness/insanity>
    - Delirium <frenzy/hysteria>
  • 1401

    15th Century: 1401 - 1500

    Physical inflictions were used to make the body an unendurable place for evil spirits.
    Madness was caused by these evil spirits.
    The soul was more important than the physical body.
    The first mental illness facility was established in Spain.
  • 1501

    16th Century: 1501-1600

    Those who were considered dangerous to society were locked away for protection.
    The term "mental illness" became an obsession.

  • 17th Century: 1601-1700

    *Private "madhouses" were formed to house numerous amounts of patients.
    *Treatment was determined based on that person's ability to pay.
    *The widespread belief was those who had mental illness should be treated like animals because they in term, behaved like animals.
    Bedlam Institution- the first & oldest for the mentally ill.
    Many people were locked away by their families, sometimes for a lifetime.

  • 18th Century: 1701-1800

    Asylums were developed- housing for the mentally ill.
    Those mentally ill were referred to as "lunatics"
    These "lunatics" were locked away from society in jails & houses & hospitals.
    Mental illness is considered as a moral weakness.
    1840's, Dorothea Dix fights for better living conditions for those in mental health facilities.

  • 19th Century: 1801-1900

    Treatments that afflicted punishments were terminated.
    Mentally ill was now treated in special facilities.
    Asylums were built all around the country.
    Psychoanalytical theories developed by Carl Jung and Sigmund Frued to help treat mental illness.

  • 20th Century: 1901-2000

    A wave of deinstitutionalization begins.
    The cause of some mental illnesses were suggested through treatment theories:
    sleep therapy
    hypothermia
    bath treatment
    Marked a big movement in advocacy and care standards for mental health care.
    1946 The National Mental Health Act was signed by President Harry Truman.
    Antipsychotic drugs emerged
    Veterans returning home from WWII received improved treatment methods.

  • 21st Century: 2001- present

    Drugs to treat depression & anxiety became extremely popular.
    Stigmas associated with mentally ill individuals continues to be an issue.
    Modern treatments included drug therapy and electroconvulsive therapy.
    Psychotherapy became broad & popular to include individual, group, family, behavior, and hypnotherapy.
    Today, instead of asylums, there are psychiatric hospitals run by state governments and local community hospitals focused on short-term care.