-
400 BCE
Hippocrates
Greek physician acknowledges that mental disorders are due to physiological disturbances, rather than demonic possession. Hippocrates proposed that mental treatment can be received by restoring the balance of bodily fluids (yellow bile, black bile, phlegm, blood). -
Jan 1, 1400
Middle Ages
In the middle ages, the mentally ill were sometimes labelled as witches or as being possessed by demons. Some had exorcisms performed on them while others had a cross shaved into their head. The first institutions for the mentally ill are established in the Muslim culture. -
Isolation of the Mentally Ill
In Europe, the mentally ill were starting to be housed with handicaps and criminals. The treatment became increasingly inhumane, with some being chained to walls and put in the dungeon. -
Growing Concern for the Mentally Ill
A French physician, Phillippe Pinel, became concerned for the treatment of the mentally ill and took over the Bicêtre insane asylum. The use of chains and shackles was no longer allowed, the people in the dungeons were removed, and exercise and the use of sun rooms were allowed. -
Dorothea Dix
Established the first 32 mental institutions in the United States. -
Jean-Martin Charcot
As one of the most influential neurologists of his time, Charcot investigated hysteria using controversial techniques such as hypnosis and magnets. -
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud began research and theraputic practice in Vienna. -
Truth Behind Expectation of Mental Hospitals
Expectations of a cure within mental hospitals were disproved. Nellie Bly pretends to be a mentally ill person to get the truth from within an asylum, and reported what went on which led to a raise in funding for improving conditions inside of asylums. -
Morton Prince
Journal of Abnormal Psychology was founded by Morton Prince. Among the first to use hypnosis for exploring psychopathology and for psychotherapy, he recognized motivational forces of emotional conflict -
Treatments of Neurotic Mental Disorders
Psychoanalytic therapies, developed by Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and more, were used to treat neurotic mental disorders, and also psychosis. People with schizophrenia, a form of psychosis, get a specific custodial care. -
Schizophrenia treatment in Berlin
Insulin-induced comas and convulsions used to treat schizophrenia in Berlin. -
Lobotomy
Neurologist Antonio Moriz developed the lobotomy as an option for mental patients. -
Electroconvulsive Shock Therapy
Discovered by Ugo Cerletti and Luico Bini, ETC was used to electrically induce seizures to provide patients relief from mental disorders. -
Mental Ill Within Prisons
Over the years pleading insanity during a trial has come to a peak. These people with mental illnesses are placed in prisons where they retrieve little to no treatment. This has led to an over populations within prisons of the mentally ill that should be in mental hospitals getting treatments for their illness.
