Historical and Contemporary

Views of Abnormal Behavior

 How abnormal behavior has been viewed
throughout history?

 Demonology, Gods, and Magic

- Abnormal behavior was attributed to a
demon or god who had taken possession of a
Behavior appeared
person. This especially true to Chinese,
Egyptians Hebrews, and Greeks during early appeared deviant
writings. to their religious
- Particularly to Hebrews, possessions were to
practices,
represent the wrath and punishment of God seemingly wild,
indifferent
- PRIMARY TREATMENT: exorcism
 Magic
 Prayers
 Incantation
 Noisemaking Behavior appeared
 Use of horrible-tasting concoctions made religious/ mystical
from sheep’s dung and wine.
 How abnormal behavior has been viewed
throughout history?

 Hippractes’ Early Medical

Concepts Mental Disorder was
- A period where considerable progress in the
due to BRAIN
understanding and treatment of mental PATHOLOGY
disorders
- Greek physician Hipproates (460-377 B.C), the
father of modern medicine, received his Heredity and
training and made substantial contributions to
Predispositions
the field.
- Hippocrates rejected the notion that deities
and demons intervened in the development
of illnesses and instead insisted that mental
disorders, like other diseases, had natural Injuries to the head
causes and appropriate treatment .
 How abnormal behavior has been viewed
throughout history?

 Hippractes’ Early Medical

Concepts
FIRE WATER
- Classified all mental disorders into three
general categories – mania, melancholia, and
phrenitis
- Each of this has a detailed clinical descriptions Heat, cold, moistness and dryness
of the specific disorders in each category.
Combined to form the four essential fluids of the body
- Ancient paradigms of personality or – blood (sanguis), phlegm , bile (choler), black bile
temperament is the doctrine of the four (4) (melancholic)
humors, associated with the name of
Hippocrtes and Galen, according to Mahler
and Mahler (1994)

Sanguine, phlegmatic,
choleric and melancholic EARTH
 How abnormal behavior has been viewed
throughout history?

 Early Philosophical Conceptions of  Early Philosophical Conceptions of

Consciousness
Consciousness
Plato (429 – 347 B.C)
- studied individuals with mental disorders who had Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C)
committed criminal acts and how to deal with
them - His contribution to psychology as his
descriptions of consciousness
- He viewed psychological phenomena as
responses of the whole organism, reflecting its - “thinking” as directed would eliminate pain
internal state and natural appetites
and help attain pleasure.
- Individual differences in intellectual ad
sociocultural influences in shaping behavior. - Frustration and conflict were rejected by
- Hospital Care was his provision in treating people Aristotle which could possibly lead to mental
with such condition disorders. He instead subscribed to the
- Conversations = Psychotherapy (to promote Hippocratic theory of disturbances in the bile.
health of their souls
- Associating to the divinely cause of having
mental disorders was still not being disregarded.
 How abnormal behavior has been viewed
throughout history?
 Later Greek and Roman Thought
To Greek Practitioners
- Medical practices developed to a higher
level, and the temples dedicated to Saturn
were first-rate Sanoria.
- Pleasant surroundings were considered of
great therapeutic value for patients with
mental illness
 Parties
 Dances, walks in the temple gardens
 Rowing alone the Nile River
 Musical concerts
 Dieting
 Massage
 Hydrotherapy, gymnastics
 Education and other physical activities S
 Early Philosophical Conceptions of
Consciousness
Asclepiades (c. 124 –40 B.C)
- Developed a theory of disease that was based
on the flow of atoms through the pores in the
body and came up with treatments, such as
massages, special diets, bathing , exercise,
listening to music, and rest and quite, to restore to
the body
Galen, a Greek physician but practiced in Rome
- Took a scientific approach to the field, dividing
the causes of psychological disorders into
physical and mental categories
- Causes were head injuries, excessive use of
alcohol, economic reversals, and disappointment
I love.
- Roman physicians haired to a pleasant physical
therapies and so followed the principle of
Constrariis Contrarius or “opposite by opposite”
 How abnormal behavior has been viewed
throughout history?

 Early Views of Mental Disorders of  Views of Abnormality during

China Middle Ages
- Chinese medicine was based on a belief in - Scientific approach of Greeks survived in the
natural rather than supernatural causes of Islamic countries of the Middle East.
illnesses
- Established the first mental hospital in
- During the 2nd
century, Chung Ching who has Baghdad in A.D. 792 , then to Damascus and
been labelled the Hippocrates of China, Aleppo
wrote two well known medical works around
- Practices of treatment were more humane
A.D. 200
- Avicenna form Persia (c. 980 – 1037) referred
- Chung Ching, views physical and mental
to as the “prince of physicians”
disorders on clinical observations, and
implicated organ pathologies and his - Some of cases were hysteria, epilepsy, manic
treatments like of Hippocrates . Thus, the use reactions, and melancholia.
of drugs and emotional balance through
appropriate activities were used.
 How abnormal behavior has been viewed
throughout history?

 Views of Abnormality during

Middle Ages
- In Europe, scientific inquiry into abnormal
behaviour was limited
- Treatment was more often by ritual and
superstition than by attempts to understand
an individual’s condition
- Devoid of scientific thinking and humane
treatment for those with mental illness
- Supernatural explanations of the causes of
mental illness grew in popularity.
 How abnormal behavior has been viewed
throughout history?
 Mass Madness
- A widespread occurrence of
group behaviour disorders that
were apparently cases of
hysteria
- Example: dancing manias
 Epidemics of raving
 Jumping
 Dancing
 Convulsions
 Tarantism
Tarantism - A disorder that included
an uncontrollable impulse to
dance that was often attributed to
the bite of the southern European
tarantula or wold spider
Lycanthropy - A condition in which Causes of Mass Madness
people believed themselves to be - Depression
possesses by wolves and imitated - Dear
their behavior
- Wild mysticism engendered by
terrible events
Mass Madness occurred periodically
in 17th century but had reached its
peak during the 14th and 15th century Mass Madness is called
On its peak was a period of social Hysteria (cite a sample
oppression, famine, and epidemic
diseases. case, page 62)
Europe was ravaged by a plague
known as the Black Death, which
killed millions to at least 50% of its
population., severely disrupted social
organization.
 How abnormal behavior has been viewed
throughout history?

 Exorcism  Witchcraft
- In Europe, people mental disorders were left - In Eur
largely to clergy
- Monasteries served as refuges and places of
confinement
- Treatment were prayed, holy water, sanctified
ointments, the breath or spittle of the priest,
touching of relics, visits to holy places and
shrines.
- Exorcism was performed by the gentle “laying
on of hands”
 Toward Humanism Approaches

 Exorcism  Witchcraft
- In Europe, people mental disorders were left - In Eur
largely to clergy
- Monasteries served as refuges and places of
confinement
- Treatment were prayed, holy water, sanctified
ointments, the breath or spittle of the priest,
touching of relics, visits to holy places and
shrines.
- Exorcism was performed by the gentle “laying
on of hands”
Toward Humanitarian Approaches