HISTORICAL VIEWS OF ABNORMAL

BEHAVIOUR
Demonology, Gods, and Magic:
 The Chinese, Egyptians, Hebrews, and Greeks often attributed such
behaviour to a demon or god who had taken possession of a person.

 The “possession” was assumed to involve good spirits or evil spirits

usually depended on the affected individual’s symptoms.

 Possessed by a good spirits or god:

o If a person’s speech or behaviour appeared to have a
religious or mystical significance, they were possessed by a
god.
o Such people were often treated with considerable awe and
respect, for individuals believed they had supernatural
powers.

 Possessed by an evil spirit:

o When a person became excited or overactive and engaged in
behaviour contrary to religious teachings, they were
considered to be the work of an angry god or an evil spirit.

 The primary type of treatment for demonic possession: exorcism, which

included various techniques for casting an evil spirit out.

 These techniques varied but typically included magic, prayer,

incantation, noisemaking, and the use of horrible-tasting concoctions
made from sheep’s dung and wine.

Hippocrates’ Early Medical Concepts:

 In the fifth century B.C, Hippocrates separated medicine from religion,

magic, and superstition.
 Father of modern medicines.
 Focused on natural causation of mental diseases.
 He also emphasized the importance of heredity and predisposition and
pointed out that injuries to the head could cause sensory and motor
disorders.
 He believed that brain was the central organ of intellectual activity and
thought that disordered thinking and behaviour were indications of some
kind of brain pathology.
 Hippocrates classified mental disorders into three categories:
o Mania
o Melancholia
o Phrenitis (or brain fever).
 Hippocrates believed that normal brain functioning depended on a
delicate balance among four humours, or fluids of the body.

 The four elements of the material world were thought to be earth, air, fire,
and water, which had attributes of heat, cold, moistness, and dryness.

 These elements combined to form the four essential fluids of the body—
blood (sanguis), phlegm, bile (choler), and black bile (melancholic).
 Melancholic: In these people, black bile predominates. They have
a melancholic temperament, are very sensitive, and enjoy artistic
pursuits.
 Choleric: People in this category have a higher amount of yellow
bile, which is the source of their passionate temperament. They
have enormous vitality and get angry quickly.
 Sanguine: Blood is the predominant humor in these people.
They’re confident, joyful, optimistic, expressive, and sociable.
 Phlegmatic: The phlegmatic have a high amount of phlegm in their
systems. They’re deep thinkers, fair, calm, willing to compromise,
and hard workers.

 The fluids combined in different proportions within different individuals,

and a person’s temperament was determined by which of the humors was
dominant.
 The following table shows the four humors with their corresponding
elements, seasons, sites of formation, and resulting temperaments:
  Hippocrates considered dreams to be important in understanding a
patient’s personality.
 He also recognized the importance of the environment and often removed
his patients from their families.

Early Philosophical Conceptions of Consciousness: