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Kelly Chu
Dr. Lyn J. Freymiller
CAS 137H Sec. 001
November 5 2015
Drills to Pills
Think of an analog clock --how the only thing that seems to be moving is second
hand, but beneath the surface, there are gears. Gears, constantly moving, constantly
turning, without stopping, but all you see is that second hand ticking. A person with a
mental illness can be described as a clock --appearing calm, cool, and collective on the
outside, but the unknown twitches and constant thoughts on the inside are invisible at
the surface. Through time, society have shifted our perspective on people with mental
illness. Societys stigma of mental illness has transformed from believing the mentally
ill was possessed by spirits to viewing them as useless to society and now we are
informed it is caused by chemical imbalances.
The belief that mental illness was caused by evil spirits dates back 6500 BCE.
They believed the human was possessed with a demon; therefore, using brute physical
force was not a problem. A process called trephining, creating a hole in the skull, is the
oldest surgical procedure for which we actually have archaeological evidence (Irving). It
was a very popular procedure for not only treating the mentally ill, but for migraines as
well. At one site in France, burials included forty instances of trephination from around

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6500 BCE; one third of the skulls found at the site (Irving). Many people survived after
the procedure and many had it more than once because the drill only penetrated the
outer membrane, avoiding the blood vessels and the brain itself. In prehistoric times,
people believed the evil spirit will escape through the hole drilled into the skull and thus
relieving the patient of mental illness.
The first person to think about the cause of the mental illness as more of a
biological disease rather than a possession of a spirit was a Greek physician named
Hippocrates. Around 400 BCE, Hippocrates came up with the Humoral Theory. He
believed that any problem associated with the human body was due to an excess or
subpar amount of the four humors in the body: black bile, yellow bile, blood, and
phlegm (McKay). For example, depression was thought to be an effect of having too
much black bile in the bodys system. Treatments to rid the body of the black bile
(depression) also included harsh psychical pain; it sounded more like torture than
treatment. The patient would undergo forced vomiting, purging, and blood-letting.
However, prayer and spiritual suggestions were also in the curing process. Although
treatments still insisted on physical altercations, this was the first time mental illness
was seen as a disease of the body itself and not by a spiritual force even if it was abstract.
Although Hippocrates introduced the idea of mental illness being caused by
biology, religions across the world was still convinced it was due to a spiritual. One
religion that believed mental illness was caused by demonic possession was the Islamic
people. In the Quran, a book Islamic people believed God (Allah) himself wrote in the
year 610, states that there are evil spirits called Jinns that live amongst humans. They
share numerous characteristics with humans such as free will, the need for food, and the

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ability to procreate. However, there is one crucial difference between humans and Jinns:
Humans cannot see Jinns, but Jinns can see humans. A person who is mentally ill was
viewed as being possessed by a Jinn. For treatment, "the practitioner recites verses
from the Quran upon the ill [if] nothing happens, the problem was [considered]
physiological or psychological (Younis). The Islamic people did not associate mental
illness as a physiological and psychological problem. This supports the idea that they
saw mental illness as more of a spiritual problem with the body, non-relating to the
physical or the mental state of the being.
The era of believing the mentally ill was possessed by demons ended when the
working era began. During the working era, society believed to be mad is to be idle, or
at least generally incapable of productive labour (Scull). Families sent loved ones to
mental asylums because they were incapable of labor and on top of that, taking care of
the mentally ill took away time in which they could have been working. The treatment of
people in the asylums were no better than how doctors treated the mentally ill when
they thought the patient was possessed by spirits.
One of the most notorious mental asylums for their cruel treatment was Bedlam.
It was located in London and it ran for over 600 years starting from 1247. The hospital
was filthy and poor, so in order to raise money, they opened it to the public. Bedlam
received many visitors during its time of open admission. Citizens would buy tickets to
see the patients inside. Like buying tickets to see a movie, they bought tickets to see the
mentally ill --society saw them as a form of amusement, as a form of entertainment. On
top of that the treatment of the mental illness was at best useless, at worst actively
injurious to the mental health of the inmates (Dance). They believed in Hippocrates

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theory of having too much black bile in their bodies which lead to harsh treatments such
as blood-letting, forceful vomiting, scarification, and purging. In fact, patients were
regularly discharged or refused admission if they were deemed unfit to survive the
physical onslaught (Dance).
Seeing the inhuman treatment of the mentally ill, three people were the leading
the asylum reform: Philippe Pinel, William Tuke, and Dorothea Dix. Philippe Pinel had
a hypothesis that the mentally ill will improve if treated with kindness. Filth, noise, and
abuse were eliminated quickly after patients were unchained, provided with sunny
rooms, allowed to exercise freely on the asylum grounds, and were no longer treated like
animals (Foerschner). In compliment of Pinel, Tuke believed the mentally ill should be
treated with respect. York Retreat, a hospital in English, was modelled after a domestic
lifestyle where people were allowed to work, practice religion, and other humanly
activities (Foerschner). In the United States, Dix gained recognition for her reform
called the Mental Hygiene Movement which raised money to build hospitals that
provided proper care for the mentally ill (Foerschner). These three people helped shift
societys view of the mentally incapable. Previously, society dehumanized the mentally
ill, but this is first time a big portion of the population accepted to treat them as equals.
Treating the mentally ill with the respect of a person that was not mentally ill helped
society view them as humans and not just useless, disposable members of the
population.
When we started to view people with mental illness as humans, we wanted to
learn more about its cause, how mental illness came to be in a logical sense. The biggest
event that caused the shift from thinking mental illness was influenced by spirits to the

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more biological, chemical side is Sigmund Freuds theory. He viewed mental illness as
more of a behavior instead of a neurotic which allowed him to seek an explanation for it
instead of saying it was caused by a supernatural power. Freuds most famous work is
his study on the unconscious part of the mind otherwise called the Psychoanalytic
Theory. The theory states the mind is split into three parts: the id, the superego, and the
ego (Thorton). The id is the unconscious part of the mind where Freud believed all
mental illnesses thrived from, the superego is the part that is the rational side that tries
to fit into social standards, and the ego regulates and tries to satisfy both the id and
superego. Prior to Freud, the world believed Hippocrates theory of having too much
black bile in the body and therefore resulted in harsh and physical purging. Freud
shifted the view to a more mental problem with its problems in the brain and not the
physical body. He believed thoughts and impact of traumatic experiences on ones mind
was the cause of mental illness. This introduced the idea of looking into the brain for a
biological cause and cure for the sickness.
Since Freud introduced the idea that mental illness is caused by something in the
brain and since then, research has progressed and found that people with mental
illnesses have odd chemical imbalances within the brain. In the 1940s and 1950s,
chemists began to experiment with different powders and pills that could calm
imbalances inside the brain and deliver real relief to people who had mental illnesses
(History of Mental). The first drug used to counteract these chemicals was called
Thorazine which was introduced in 1954 (Scull). By the late nineteenth century,
psychiatrists all over the world believed mental illness was a disease of the body and the
mind. Since then, medications have been developed to treat these illness; however, they

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are not curative, only palliative which means medications can only suspend the
symptoms but never cure the patient (Scull).
In conclusion, there is still a lot about mental illness that we do not know, but we
greatly advanced throughout history. We went from drilling into skulls to giving the
mentally ill proper care and medication. This says a lot about society because as a whole,
we progressed to start accepting people that is not of the majority. People that do not
seem the norm are quickly isolated and the majority of the population have a
condescending attitude towards them, but we are gradually learning about the
differences and embracing it. Hopefully in the future we can continue to learn about the
brain and mental illness as well as accepting diversity within us.

Works Cited
Dance, Caecilia. "Dance's Historical Miscellany: A History of Bedlam, the World's Most

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Notorious Asylum." Dance's Historical Miscellany: A History of Bedlam, the
World's Most Notorious Asylum. N.p., 24 Oct. 2014. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.
Foerschner, Allison M. "The History of Mental Illness: From "Skull Drills" to "Happy
Pills"" RSS. N.p., 2010. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
"History of Mental Health Treatment | Dual Diagnosis." Dual Diagnosis. N.p., n.d. Web.
30 Oct. 2015.
Irving, Jenni. "Trephination." Ancient History Encyclopedia. N.p., 1 May 2013. Web. 01
Nov. 2015.
McKay, Brett, and Kate McLay. "The History of Depression | The Art of Manliness." The
Art of Manliness. N.p., 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.
Scull, Andrew. Madness in Civilization: A Cultural History of Insanity, from the Bible
to Freud, from the Madhouse to Modern Medicine. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Younis, Tarek. "How Do Jinn Fit in a Framework of Mental Health?" Tarek Younis.
N.p., 3 Nov. 2013. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.
Thornton, Stephen. "Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy." Internet Encyclopedia of
Philosophy. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2015.

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