| Era | Time | Cause | Treatment | Names to Know |
| Prehistoric | ½ million years ago?? | Evil spirits?? | Trephination | |
| Ancient Chinese Civilization | 27th Century B.C. | Lack of balance, harmony, vital air and body organs | Harmonious lifestyle | |
| Ancient Egyptian Civilization | 19th Century B.C. | Largely natural causes (wandering uterus, brain) | Physiological and spiritual interventions | |
| Hebrew Civilization (Old Testament) | 7th Century B.C. | Punishment from God | Confess sins, repent, comforted by physician | |
| Greek Civilization | 5th Century B.C. | Diseases of the body, humors out of balance (blood, bile, phlegm), hysteria | Bleeding, rest, diet | Hippocrates |
| Middle Ages | 5th – 15th Century A.D. | Natural and supernatural causes; preoccupation with witchcraft in late Middle Ages | States take more responsibility for treatment; asylums become common, particularly in cities, for keeping mental patients away from society | |
| Humanitarian Movement | 18th – 19th Century A.D. | Separation from nature, stress, social change, natural causes | Rest, tranquillity, peace, humane treatment | Pinel, Dix |
| Medical Model | 19th – 20th Century A.D. | Medical disease, infection (e.g., syphilis and general paresis), "germ theory" | Psychoanalysis, hospitalization for chronic cases, hydrotherapy, shock therapy, lobotomy | Freud, Pasteur |
| Mental Hygiene Movement | 19th – 20th Century A.D. | Natural and social causes | Prevention, humane treatment in hospitals, basic human rights | Beers |
| Modern Era | 1950s – present | Multiple causes, including biological, psychological, and social factors | Psychotherapy, medication, social interventions, acute hospitalization, deinstitutionalization, revolving-door phenomenon |
Copyright 2009 Jim Biederman
Last revised on
February 18, 2009
Comments should go to
Jim
Biederman
The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by Anoka-Ramsey Community College.