CONTEMPORARY VIEWS OF ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR.
As the mental hygiene movement was gaining ground in and around The US during the latter part of the 19th century, great technological discoveries also occurred. These advances were the main components which led to what we know off today as the scientific, or experimentally oriented, view of abnormal behavior and the application of scientific knowledge to the treatment of disturbed individuals. The four main themes in abnormal psychology which spanned the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and generated powerful influences on contemporary perspectives in abnormal behavior were:
1) biological discoveries
2) the development of a classification system for mental disorders.
3) the emergence of psychological causation views and
4) experimental psychological research developments.
Establishing the link between the Brain and Mental Discoveries.
Advances in the study of biological as well as anatomical factors as underlying both physical and mental disorders developed during this time. one of the major bio-medical discoveries of the time was the discovery of the link between general paresis and syphilis. General paresis caused death with 2-5 years of occurrence and the symptoms were paralysis and mental illness. In the year 1906, August von Wasserman devised a blood test for syphilis.This development led to the possibility to check the presence of the deadly bacteria in the blood stream of an individual before the serious after effects of having the disease was seen. In 1917 Julius von Wagner-Jauregg, chief of the psychiatric clinic of the University of Vienna, introduced the malaria fever treatment for Syphilis. It was noticed that the occurrence of the malarial fever killed the possibilities of the individual to have syphilis. It acted as a vaccination and prevented the disease from coming as the fever associated with malaria killed the virus causing the disease.
Brain pathology was a major causal factor. Albrecth von Haller in his book said the importance of the brain and psychic functions and advocated postmortem dissection to study the brains of the insane. This era saw some of the answers to "how" some mental disorders are caused but the answers to "why" weren't really addressed to. The development of a classification system and also providing the diseases with proper nomenclature happened during this time.The integration of all the clinical material together can be called a Herculean task and also was one of the major contributions to the field of Psychopathology.
Establishing the link between the Brain and Mental Discoveries.
Advances in the study of biological as well as anatomical factors as underlying both physical and mental disorders developed during this time. one of the major bio-medical discoveries of the time was the discovery of the link between general paresis and syphilis. General paresis caused death with 2-5 years of occurrence and the symptoms were paralysis and mental illness. In the year 1906, August von Wasserman devised a blood test for syphilis.This development led to the possibility to check the presence of the deadly bacteria in the blood stream of an individual before the serious after effects of having the disease was seen. In 1917 Julius von Wagner-Jauregg, chief of the psychiatric clinic of the University of Vienna, introduced the malaria fever treatment for Syphilis. It was noticed that the occurrence of the malarial fever killed the possibilities of the individual to have syphilis. It acted as a vaccination and prevented the disease from coming as the fever associated with malaria killed the virus causing the disease.
Brain pathology was a major causal factor. Albrecth von Haller in his book said the importance of the brain and psychic functions and advocated postmortem dissection to study the brains of the insane. This era saw some of the answers to "how" some mental disorders are caused but the answers to "why" weren't really addressed to. The development of a classification system and also providing the diseases with proper nomenclature happened during this time.The integration of all the clinical material together can be called a Herculean task and also was one of the major contributions to the field of Psychopathology.
No comments:
Post a Comment