HisPhil Lec 6 - History of Mental Health

Flashcards about the history of mental health and clinical psychology.

Hippocrates' View on Mental Illness

Mental illness is a cause of natural occurrences in the human body, specifically pathological problems in the brain with no role for demons or other supernatural forces.

Equilibrium

Having a balance between the four humors (Blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile). An imbalance meant a problem.

Imbalance therapy

A therapy used to create a new balance between the four humors, such as 'Bloodletting'.

Causes of abuse towards people with mental issues

Superstition, shame and potential stigmatisation.

BEDLAM

A nickname for the mental hospital Saint Mary of Bethlehem in London, known for its disarray, tumult, unrest, commotion, and turmoil.

Dorothy Dix

An American activist who visited a Boston jail in 1841 and found mentally ill people confined under inhumane conditions and started a long lasting campaign to reform asylums.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)

An electric shock to the brain, sometimes seen as a 'Ctrl + Alt + Del' for the brain.

Franz Mesmer

Worked with hypnosis and animal magnetism.

Lightner Witmer

Introduced the term Clinical Psychology and established the first Psychological Clinic in 1896.

Sigmund Freud

Psycho-analytic theory of personality and psychopathology, ID, Ego, and Superego, Consciousness and Unconsciousness

Behavioural Perspective

Change through conditioning. Eg. Systematic desensitization. For example, if you are afraid of spiders.

Carl Rogers

Humanistic approach described in his book ‘client centered therapy’. Promotes Unconditional positive regard: Empathy, accept client’s feelings and actions as this will make them open and honest, which is necessary for growth.