Mental Illness: A Psychological Analysis

In 335 BC Aristotle suggested that the heart was in fact where mental information was processed. Eventually it came to be known that mental functions were actually processed in the brain and also people were beginning to discover that the brain can mess up. Mental illness was seen as a problem in society. As a problem that became more and more prevalent, people began to look for a solution. The only issue with looking for a solution was that no one had known where to look. The lack of medical education led to both misdiagnosis and mistreatment of people. The past knowledge of mental illness was based heavily in religion, only partially relying on simple science. It was not until 330 BC that Plato would suggest the brain as the center for mental functions (“History of Psychology"). The understanding of mental illness was in the very early stages and not progressing quickly. Before this, Aristotle thought that the heart was the center for thought processes. He came to the conclusion by poking the brain of a conscious person and seeing that the person did not feel anything (Ghilian). He then concluded that this meant that the brain was not involved in the processing of sensory information. He did not think about pain receptors, which would have accounted for the lack of feeling. He would have known if he had the right knowledge that a higher medical education would have provided him with. Another example of poor medical knowledge would be Erasmus Darwin’s “Rotational Therapy.” He theorized that making someone sleep and spinning them on a couch was a form of therapy, stating that sleeping can cure disease, and that spinning induces sleep (Greenberg). Also saying that spinning reduced congestion and thus cured patients of mental illness (Greenberg). He had little to no testing on actual patients, and was then widely ridiculed for his work. He wound up with slightly dizzy, but still mentally ill patients. This shows a lack of education on the matter of medical analysis. A diagnosis to mentally ill behavior was sought after when patients acted more so against societal norms and people had several different diagnoses in mind. One of the earliest explanations for people who acted ‘lunatic’ was to say that they were possessed. Many people believed madness was caused by the devil himself (Gamwell and Tomes 50). This is an example of society playing a role in the medical exceptions of knowledge rather than actual medical education. In the 17th Century all colonists would often explain mental illness in a religious sense (Groh 24). While it would be found that this is not the case, it was what was widely accepted at the time. Further thought into education could have brought them to non-spiritual answers, but past scientists either did not have access to previous research, or let their own bias take control of their actions …show more content…
This most likely furthered the idea that spirituality and religion were direct factors in mental illness or ‘madness.’ An extension of a minister’s duty would be to support mentally ill patients. Medical practice was not within their taught career but they treated the ill anyways (Foerschner). Ministers would further bias the ideas of mental illness by using spiritual means to attempt to cure patients. Trips to religious shrines were used as a way to relieve mental illness (Foerschner). The outcome of these trips would likely be simply tired, but still insane patients …show more content…
In this form of treatment, patients were shocked into seizures to relieve mental illness (Foerschner). This was often not the case, and resulted in either death or more severe conditions caused by brain damage (Foerschner). Patients were treated three times a week until they reached a dozen sessions on average, changing slightly in individual cases where less may have seemed to suffice, and more had been needed to ‘do the job’ (Foerschner). Side effects of electroconvulsive therapy would be amnesia and disorientation, but those were disregarded due to the outcome of the procedure, being more controllable schizophrenic patients (Foerschner). Though, if multiple sessions were not effective, patients would instead undergo different forms of psychosurgery, of which included the lobotomy (Foerschner). Drugs and treatments that obviously caused harmful results were not seen as harmful, because they also could detain patients (Healy