A Brief History of Mental Illness

I wrote this for HealthCentral's BipolarConnect. Following is a brief extract:

790,000 BC, give or take a few years - Discovery of fire. Anyone crazy enough to take a burning tree into their cave and find a practical application had to have been dealing with bipolar. So, you nonbipolars out there, listen up: We give you the gift of civilization, and how do you thank us? That’s right. You marginalize us. (By the way, sorry we couldn’t get fire to you sooner.)

2000 BC - Ancient Egyptians view mental illness symptoms as physical, caused by disorders of the heart.

400 BC - Hippocrates and fellow ancient Greeks explain physical and mental illness in terms of “the four humors.” Melancholia literally means “black bile,” a condition Aristotle assigns to Socrates. Later, Galen refines the humors into “temperaments.” Bottom line: Mental illness is considered biological.

Second century AD - Aretaeus of Cappadocia links mania to melancholia, thus effectively identifying bipolar.

410 AD - Alaric and his Visigoths sack Rome. Dark Ages officially begin. Christian belief interprets mental illness as a sign of divine punishment or Satanic possession. This “fault principle” permeates treatment of the mentally ill to this very day.

Middle Ages - One of the treatments for mental illness includes drilling holes in the skull to allow evil spirits to escape.

1242 - The Order of Mary of Bethlehem establishes a shelter for the insane in London, referred to as “Bedlam.”

1492 - Christopher Columbus has a crazy idea and sails to the New World. To nonbipolars: We introduce to you to the concept of America, and how do you thank us? Yeh, right. (Sorry we couldn’t find it for you sooner.)
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