Mental Illness
I didn't realize some of the things Ezekiel did and I'm kind of amused by the line: "It is interesting to speculate where the prophets are today, when we no longer attribute hearing voices to G-d but to mental illness."
Hippocraties developed the ideas about "humors" that cause mental illness. "The residue of this idea of mental health is perserved in our everyday language when we refer to someone as being in a "bad humor.""
For treatment of mental illness, apparently the Romans had their own method of electroshock in which they applied electric eels to the head O_o.
*laughs* These two Dominican monk dudes named Johan Sprenger and Heinrick Kraemer wrote a handbook (with papal approval mind you) on how to catch witches. If the madness wasn't found to have an organic cause, then it was caused by witchcraft. In fact, if you were not convinced by the authors' arguements, it was because you were actually a victim of witchcraft.
Apparently, according to those two, "All witchcraft comes from a carnal lust which in women is insatiable." *is kind of amused*
The Darwin chair makes me wonder. It was invented in 1774 as a cure for mental illness. "In this chair the insane were rotated until blood oozed from their mouths, ears and noses, and for years most successful cures were reported as a result of its use."
I never thought "weak imagination" would be seen as a symptom of a mental illness.
*facepalm* Apparently Mr. "Father of Medicalized Deviance" himself, Benjamin Rush. " He was an early and active abolitionist, although partly basing his conviction on his belief that blacks had a disease. 'Negritude,' that was inherited from ancestors with leprosy that had turned their skins dark."
It is fascinating to read about how PMS or LLPDD was turned into such a marketing ploy when there were arguements about whether ro not it should be regarded as a mental disorder. Apparently there were women who were afraid that their children would actually be taken away from them once this was classified as a mental disorder.
Hippocraties developed the ideas about "humors" that cause mental illness. "The residue of this idea of mental health is perserved in our everyday language when we refer to someone as being in a "bad humor.""
For treatment of mental illness, apparently the Romans had their own method of electroshock in which they applied electric eels to the head O_o.
*laughs* These two Dominican monk dudes named Johan Sprenger and Heinrick Kraemer wrote a handbook (with papal approval mind you) on how to catch witches. If the madness wasn't found to have an organic cause, then it was caused by witchcraft. In fact, if you were not convinced by the authors' arguements, it was because you were actually a victim of witchcraft.
Apparently, according to those two, "All witchcraft comes from a carnal lust which in women is insatiable." *is kind of amused*
The Darwin chair makes me wonder. It was invented in 1774 as a cure for mental illness. "In this chair the insane were rotated until blood oozed from their mouths, ears and noses, and for years most successful cures were reported as a result of its use."
I never thought "weak imagination" would be seen as a symptom of a mental illness.
*facepalm* Apparently Mr. "Father of Medicalized Deviance" himself, Benjamin Rush. " He was an early and active abolitionist, although partly basing his conviction on his belief that blacks had a disease. 'Negritude,' that was inherited from ancestors with leprosy that had turned their skins dark."
It is fascinating to read about how PMS or LLPDD was turned into such a marketing ploy when there were arguements about whether ro not it should be regarded as a mental disorder. Apparently there were women who were afraid that their children would actually be taken away from them once this was classified as a mental disorder.