Sneha John 1114326

 Historical Views of Abnormal Behaviour

 Imagine a situation you witness where you see people jumping , throwing brooms around, clapping their hands, and dancing. Some might find it humorous, even scary for some.. but well  say for our early ancestors-this was a common phenomena - something called abnormal behaviour.

So lets first look at what is abnormality? - Abnormality (or dysfunctional behavior), in the vivid sense of something deviating from the normal or differing from the typical , is a subjectively defined behavioral characteristic, assigned to those with rare or dysfunctional conditions. Defining who is normal or abnormal is a contentious issue in abnormal psychology

(n.d).

Let's look at some of the early views of Abnormal Behavior-

  

Stone Age cave dwellers practiced the earliest treatment of mental disorders millions of years ago, but our knowledge of the early ancestors is very limited. History shows that the  Chinese, Egyptians, Hebrews, and Greeks considered abnormal behaviour as personified to a demon of God who had taken possession of the person. The individual’s symptoms determined whether they were affected with good spirits or evil ones. Such people were also admired and respected as; they were believed to have supernatural powers.  With reference to the Bible, most of the possession was considered to be by the evil one as it was considered as a punishment from God. The treatment for demonic possession was Exorcism, which included various techniques for casting evil spirit out of an afflicted person (Robert Carson, 2008). These techniques included magic, prayer, incantation, noise-making and the use of horrible-tasting concoctions (Robert Carson, 2008)

Hippocrates Early Medical Concepts

The era of Golden Age in Greece saw healing guided by Athenian leader Pericles (461-429 B.C.), which had progress in understanding the treatment of the disorders, in spite that Greeks found the human body very sacred.  Greek physician reformed this era by bringing in his training and made positive contributions to this field. According to him, mental disorders or a disease was caused naturally and it required medical treatments, rejecting the involvement of demons for the cause of illness. He believed that mental disorders were caused due to dysfunction in the brain and that heredity and conditioning triggered also triggered that cause for it. Thus Hippocrates classified mental disorders into three- mania, melancholia and phrenitis (Robert Carson, 2008). He brought a revolutionary change in the treatment of mental illness, as he unlike the ancient ones emphasized that the natural cause, clinical observation and brain pathology was the root cause of mental disorders.

Early Philosophical Conceptions of Consciousness and Mental Discovery

Greek philosopher Plato clinically studied mentally disturbed individuals who had committed criminal crimes and stated that they should not receive the punishment as that of mentally stable ones. In The Republic, he stressed on individual differences intellectually as well as in other abilities, and suggested that socio- culture influenced and shaped thinking and behaviour. In the face of modern thinking, he shared the belief that mental disorders were caused by godly power.

Aristotle, a student of Plato gave his input on the theory of Consciousness and gave the view that thinking would reduce pain and give more pleasure.

Later Greek and Roman Thought

The work of Hippocrates was continued by some Greek and Roman physicians, which also led to a higher form of treatment for mental illness. Pleasant surroundings were considered of therapeutic value which was accompanied with parties, dance, walks in the temples and musical concerts. Other treatments also included dieting, massage, hydrotherapy, gymnastics, and education. One of the most influential Greek Physician was Galen (A.D. 130-200) who took a scientific approach in this field, thus dividing causes of psychological disorders into physical and mental categories. The causes included injuries to the head, excessive use of alcohol, shock, fear, adolescence, menstrual changes, economic reversals and disappointment in love.

 Abnormality during the middle Ages

In this era, the scientific aspects of Greek medicine survived in the Islamic countries, and history proves that the first mental hospital was established in Baghdad in A.D. 792, which was later followed by others in Damascus and Aleppo. An important figure in the Islamic medicine was Avicenna from Arabia who wrote about hysteria, epilepsy, manic reactions and melancholia. However, this era proved limited scientific study into abnormal behaviour in Europe, and the treatment of mentally disturbed patients was often guided by ritual or superstition. Due to such environment, it was difficult to arrive at a clarified understanding of abnormal behaviour. This age also so the rapid influence of theology and the concept of ‘sin’. This was further briefed in two most important event- mass madness and exorcism.

Mass Madness

The last half of the Middle Age in Europe saw the advent of mass madness- the widespread occurrence of group behaviour disorders hat were apparently cases of hysteria (Robert Carson, 2008), which included dancing maniacs, jumping and convulsions. One such episode came to be known as a disorder called Tarantism –which included an uncontrollable impulse to dance that, was often attributed as tarantula or wolf spider (Robert Carson, 2008). However, these rites were banned with the advent of Christianity, but were still practiced by few cultures in Europe. The rural areas were afflicted with Iycanthropy- a condition in which people believed themselves to be possessed by wolves and imitated their behaviour (Robert Carson, 2008).  This condition was so severe, that even deaths have been reported. Mass madness reached its peak in the fourteenth and fifteenth century which also saw oppression, famine, and epidemic diseases.  

Exorcism and Witchcraft

In the middle ages, management of the mentally ill patients was left to the Clergy. Early part of this period treated the mentally disturbed with kindness and the treatment consisted of prayer, holy water, sanctified ointment, touching of relics, visit to holy places and mild forms of exorcism. Exorcism is symbolic acts performed to drive out the devil from persons believed to have possession. This act may seem ancient to us, but reports show that few people or cultures to be specific still practice exorcism and believe it be a good treatment to treat mental illness.

We see so many changes in the ancient and medieval era, that it is perhaps difficult to interpret the historical views on abnormality.