Early Diagnosis, Explanation, and Treatment of Mental Illness

1
Early Diagnosis, Explanation, and Treatment of
Mental Illness

• Chapter 15

2
What is Mental Illness?

• Be able to list the 4 recurring themes when the
  behavior and thought processes thought to
  characterize mental illness are examined
  (446-447)
• Mental Illness When a persons emotions,
  thoughts, or behaviors deviate substantially from
  what is considered to be normal at a certain time
  and place in history
• Four recurring themes
• Harmful behavior
• Unrealistic thoughts and perceptions
• Inappropriate emotions
• Unpredictable behavior

3
Early Explanations of Mental Illness

• Be able to name the three general categories that
  explanations of mental illness fall into and an
  example for each (447-450)
• Biological explanations medical model of mental
  illness where all disease is caused by the
  malfunctioning of body, namely the brain (e.g.,
  psychological imbalances)
• Psychological explanations psychological model
  of mental illness where psychological events are
  the causes of abnormal behavior (e.g., stress)
• Supernatural explanations supernatural model of
  mental illness where ailments are attributed to
  mysterious forces entering the body (e.g., demon
  possession)

4

• One way in which mental illness was treated was
  through trepanation
• Bleeding a patient or removing a section of his
  or her skull was used to allow evil spirits to
  escape from the body

5
Witch Hunts

• Know the date of when the persecution of witches
  peaked and about how many people were executed
  (452-453)
• Persecution of witches lasted for about three
  centuries in Europe (between 1450 and 1750 with
  peak around 1600
• Papal bull (an official document) authorized
  systematic persecution of witches
• Malleus was written and was one of the most
  popular and influential books of the time
• Mental illnesses were believed to be the cause of
  witchcraft and was cured by exorcism, confession,
  and prayer
• In Europe, between 1450 and 1750 about 100,000
  accused witches were executed (80-85 of them
  women b/c they were thought to have had stronger
  carnal desires than men)
• The preoccupation with witches during the
  Renaissance and Reformation illustrates how
  conceptions of mental illness vary with the
  spirit of the time

6
Gradual Improvement in the Treatment of Mental
Illness

• Be able to describe the contributions of
  Parcelsus, Agrippa, and Weyer in the movement
  away from obsession with witchcraft (454)
• Parcelsus argued against witch hunts by saying
  their behavior was caused by emotional or
  physical disorders
• Agrippa argued against witch hunts and was
  Weyers teacher
• Weyer Agrippas student wrote rebuttal of the
  Malleus Maleficarum

7
Gradual Improvement in the Treatment of Mental
Illness

• Be able to describe four of Pinels contributions
  to the improvement in the treatment of mental
  illness (455-456)
• 1. He wrote influential articles that argued for
  the humane treatment of people with mental
  disturbances
• 2. He improved treatment of inmates.
• As director of Bicetre Asylum, he unchained
  inmates, improved rations, stopped bloodletting,
  and forbade all harsh treatment of inmates
• 3. He was responsible for many innovations
• He segregated different types of patients,
  encouraged occupational therapy, favored bathing,
  and argued against the use of any form of
  exorcism.
• 4. He was the first to maintain precise case
  histories and statistics on is patients,
  including a careful record of cure rates

8
Gradual Improvement in the Treatment of Mental
Illness

• Be able to write about Witmers contributions to
  the field of psychology (459-461)
• Lightner Witmer (1867-1956)
• Published influential articles which emphasized
  the need for psychology to focus on providing
  practical information
• Founded the worlds first psychological clinic
• Founded the Psychological Clinic journal
• Established a residential school for the care and
  treatment of retarded and troubled children
• He is referred to as the father of clinical
  psychology

9
The Tension Between the Psychological and Medical
Models of Mental Illness

• Explain the debate between the psychological and
  medical models of mental illness (461)
• The debate is between those who seek to explain
  all human behavior in terms of physiology or
  chemistry and those who stress the importance of
  mental variables such as conflict, frustration,
  anxiety, and fear
• Debate is illustrated in the explanations
  currently offered for alcoholism

10
The Use of Hypnotism

• On the road toward a better understanding of
  mental illness included the work of Franz Anton
  Mesmer (1734-1815)
• According to Mesmer, the planets influence humans
  through a magnetic force called animal
  gravitation
• Mesmer used magnets to cure his patients
• He assumed that each person contains a magnetic
  force field
• The healthy individuals force field is evenly
  distributed throughout the body
• The unhealthy persons force field is unevenly
  distributed.
• The magnets redistributed the force field
• His ideas were eventually tested and proven
  false. It was concluded that the results from
  his treatment were due to imagination

11
The Use of Hypnotism

• Puysegur (1751-1825) expanded Mesmers work by
  discovering that patients did not need to
  experience a violent crisis, but that they could
  be placed into a trance and that would heal them
• He discovered most of the hypnotic phenomena
  known today
• Some physicians began using hypnotism as a
  surgical anesthetics

12
Charcots Proposed Explanation of Hypnosis and
Hysteria

• Name at least one contribution Charcot made in
  the treatment of mental illness (466-467)
• He was considered one of the most brilliant
  physicians in all of Europe
• He carefully observed his patients symptoms, and
  upon their death correlated those symptoms with
  specific abnormalities in the brain and spinal
  cord
• He instituted temperature-taking as a daily
  hospital routine
• Charcots explanation of hysteria and hypnotic
  phenomena combined biology (the inherited
  potential for hysteria) and psychology (the
  pathogenic ideas caused by trauma or suggestion)
• He speculated that hysteric symptoms or hypnotic
  phenomena were the result of the subconscious
  influence of dissociated aspects of personality.