'Talking therapy' pre-Freud

[cakeordeath44]

Search terms: talking therapy/pyschocoanalysis/pyschocotherapy pre-Freud, history of pyschocoanalysis/pyschocotherapy, talking about problems cure history, historical treatment of depression etc

Comments

[lied_ohne_worte]

First off, you might want to check the spelling of some of your search terms - it's "psychotherapy" and "psychoanalysis".

Then, if you are looking for evidence from clergy, you might want to look up "confession". For one thing, there's the Catholic confession. There are also equivalents in other traditions, including Protestant ones, although those are far less formalised and lighter on the "say this prayer 20 times to repent" side, focusing more on a confidential conversation between a pastor and a person with problems (at least here in Germany, this confidence is equally protected by law as that of a lawyer or a medical professional). I'm not sure of English terms for non-Catholic forms, but you should be able to turn up something.

[w_a_i_d]

All your search terms seem to have an extra "co" in them - which makes them sound appealingly chocolatey, but may not be helpful. Also it's "psycho" not "pyscho"

Here's something from Google books that seems to have a lot about early pioneers and their beliefs and tactics. You can also try searching with "alienist, pre-Freud."

In a more general sense than the treatment of mental illness, I think for centuries there were oddly conflicting ideas about the values of talking about one's troubles - in Sense and Sensibility, for example, Elinor encourages Marianne "to be open" and "to talk of what she felt". On the other hand, as late as Lord of the Rings, you've got Frodo saying he'll never forget the experience of being abducted, stripped and interrogated by Orcs and Sam says "You never will, if you talk about it," -- I remember realising I'd automatically read that as "if you don't talk about it".

[solidark]

I don't know how far pre-Freud you want to go but the history of psychoanalysis and therapie goes Way Back. At the Asclepion in Epidauros in Greece (basically a big temple dedicated to Asclepios which could be interpreted as a kind of early hospital) a very primitive form of this took place. Wikipedia says: "Pilgrims flocked to asclepieia to be healed. They slept overnight and reported their dreams to a priest the following day. He prescribed a cure, often a visit to the baths or a gymnasium.". One could argue that this particular kind of "medical" dream interpretation was the very beginning of psychoanalysis (because I do think that the priests didn't just want to hear about dreams but also about the circumstances of the patients).

[majolika]

[icecreamempress]

"Alienists" is a good search term for pre-Freudian psychotherapists. There were certainly some prominent psychologists who advocated a talking cure before Freud, but I am blanking on all of their names except for G. Stanley Hall and William James.