Discuss the history of how mental illness has been treated from the Stone Age, through the Middle Ages until Pinel's work in France, include the approaches used and which mental disorders that their "patients" were probably suffering from

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer will include that archaeological findings dating to the Stone Age suggest that most primitive approaches were marked by fear and superstitious belief in demons, witchcraft, and magic. One of the more dramatic "cures" practiced by primitive "therapists" was a process called trepanning, also sometimes spelled trephining. In modern usage, trepanning is any surgical procedure in which a hole is bored in the skull. In the hands of primitive therapists it meant boring, chipping, or bashing holes into a patient's head. Presumably this was done to relieve pressure or release evil spirits. Some "patients" actually survived the "treatment.". During the Middle Ages, treatments for mental illness in Europe focused on demonology, the study of demons and persons plagued by spirits. Medieval "therapists" commonly blamed abnormal behavior on supernatural forces, such as possession by the devil, or on curses from witches and wizards. As a cure, they used exorcism to "cast out evil spirits.". For some, exorcism was a religious ritual, but more often, physical torture was used to make the body an inhospitable place for the devil to reside. Modern analyses of "demonic possession" suggest that many victims were suffering from epilepsy, schizophrenia, dissociative disorders, and depression. One reason for the rise of demonology may lie in ergot poisoning. In the Middle Ages, rye fields were often infested with ergot fungus. Ergot is a natural source of LSD and other mind-altering chemicals. Eating tainted bread could have caused symptoms that were easily mistaken for bewitchment or madness. Pinching sensations, muscle twitches, facial spasms, delirium, and hallucinations are signs of ergot poisoning. In 1793, a French doctor named Philippe Pinel changed the Bicêtre Asylum in Paris from a squalid "madhouse" into a mental hospital by unchaining the inmates. Finally, the emotionally disturbed were regarded as "mentally ill" and given compassionate treatment.