Table of Contents
When did the first mental illness treatments begin?
Most people associate the development of hospitals and asylums, which started in the 16th century, with modern treatments for mental illness. With a combination of pharmacological and psychosocial treatments and supports, between 70 and 90 percent of people with serious mental illnesses experience a significant reduction in symptoms and an improved quality of life.Scientific evidence supports the effectiveness of practices like therapy, brain stimulation, supplements, and self-care for easing the symptoms of some mental illnesses.Serious mental illness can be managed, challenges overcome, and meaningful, productive lives can be led by those who receive early and consistent treatment.Mentally ill individuals were viewed as being witches or possessed by the devil or other evil spirits. They were sent to asylums, where they were frequently mistreated and confined in unclean living quarters. Patients were generally viewed as a threat to society.It was acknowledged that mental illness could potentially be treated, if not completely eliminated. The state had to provide asylums because it was no longer acceptable to confine the poor and mentally ill to workhouses and jails.
How has the approach to treating mental illness evolved over time?
Over the past 70 years, mental health has undergone significant change. Numerous changes have taken place, including the closing of the old asylums, the relocation of care into the community, and the expansion of talking therapies. All of them have greatly improved patient care and mental health services. Globally, there is an increase in mental health issues. There has been a 13 percent increase in mental health conditions and substance use disorders over the past ten years (to 2017), primarily due to demographic changes. One in five people live with a disability today due to mental health issues.The social revolution of the 1960s resulted in significant changes for mental health care, including a decline in hospital beds, an increase in community services, improved pharmacological and psychological interventions, and a rise in patient activism.Between the 1930s and the early 1990s, there was a noticeable rise in mental health problems.The 1800s saw major changes in mental health, including the building of asylums, as patients were no longer thought to have moral failings but rather treatable medical conditions.
How was mental illness handled in the past?
Isolation and Asylums Serious problems with overcrowding and shoddy sanitation in asylums sparked campaigns to raise awareness and the standard of care. Physical treatments for mental illness were commonly used at the time by medical professionals. This strategy resulted in the application of cruel techniques like ice water baths and restraint. The early 19th century saw almost no care for those suffering from mental illness in America; instead, they were frequently sent to prisons, almshouses, or under the insufficient supervision of their families. If treatment was given, it was similar to other medical procedures done at the time, like purgatives and bloodletting.For those who had severe depression, treatments in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were frequently insufficient. As a result, lobotomies—the surgical removal of a person’s frontal lobe—which had come to be known as a calming treatment at the time—were administered to numerous desperate people.The Common Era The most widely used cures at the time were exorcisms, drowning, and burning. Numerous people were detained in alleged lunatic asylums. The minority of doctors continued to look for physical causes of depression and other mental illnesses, but they were still few in number.Generally speaking, the popular treatments at the time were provided by private asylums. Most doctors in the late 19th and early 20th centuries had a somatic understanding of mental illness and believed that mental health issues were caused by a defect in the nervous system.Every new development in medicine altered how some treatments for mental illness were used. Although hydrotherapy, metrazol convulsion, and insulin shock therapy were widely used in the 1930s, they were replaced in the 1940s by psychotherapy. By the 1950s, electroshock therapy and artificial fever therapy were the treatments of choice among doctors.
Who pioneered the use of human treatment for mental illness?
Many believe that French physician Philippe Pinel’s work in the late 1700s was instrumental in the development of modern psychiatry. Benjamin Rush, a statesman and physician, introduced a similar strategy while he was still alive in the United States. The founder of American psychiatry, Dr. Benjamin Rush, was the first to postulate that mental illness is a disease of the mind rather than a demonic possession. The first American-printed textbook on psychiatry was his seminal work, Observations and Inquiries upon the Diseases of the Mind, which was released in 1812.
How were mental illnesses handled back in the 1800s?
The early 19th century saw almost no care for those suffering from mental illness in America; instead, they were typically sent to prisons, almshouses, or under the insufficient supervision of their families. If treatment was given, it was similar to other medical procedures used at the time, such as purgatives and bloodletting. Insulin therapy, which was developed by Sakel in Vienna in 1933, Metrazol (a convulsant), which was introduced by Meduna in Budapest in 1934, prefrontal leucotomy, which was developed by Moniz in Portugal in 1937, and electroconvulsive therapy, which was developed by Cerletti and Bini in Italy in 1938, were all used to treat schizophrenia in the 1940s.Early 20th-century therapies for schizophrenia included frontal leukotomy, insulin coma, metrazol shock, and electro-convulsive therapy. In the early 1950s, neuroleptic drugs were first applied.Every new development in medicine altered how some treatments for mental illness were used. The 1930s saw a rise in popularity for hydrotherapy, metrazol convulsion therapy, and insulin shock therapy, but the 1940s saw a shift in favor of psychotherapy. By the 1950s, electroshock therapy and artificial fever therapy were the treatments of choice among doctors.Insulin coma, metrazol shock, electro-convulsive therapy, and frontal leukotomy were some of the early 20th century treatments for schizophrenia. Early in the 1950s, the first neuroleptic drugs were used.Convulsions, comas, and fever (caused by electroshock, camphor, insulin, and malaria injections) were frequent conditions in the 1930s, when mental illness treatments were still in their infancy. Other treatments included lobotomies, which involved removing portions of the brain.
In the 1970s, how was mental illness managed?
The 1970s saw an increase in the specificity and refinement of existing treatments for mental disorders. The adverse effects of various treatments, such as deinstitutionalization, came under more scrutiny, and the scientific support for some treatments became more solid. With each new medical discovery, new approaches to treating mental illness emerged. Despite being widely used in the 1930s, hydrotherapy, metrazol convulsion therapy, and insulin shock therapy were replaced in the 1940s by psychotherapy. By the 1950s, electroshock therapy and artificial fever therapy were popular among doctors.Early 1900s Psychoanalytical therapies (talking treatments), created by Sigmund Freud and others, including Carl Jung, are the main treatments for neurotic mental disorders and occasionally psychosis.At the beginning of the 1950s, lobotomies and electroconvulsive therapy were frequently used to treat mental health disorders. The transition to the psychopharmacological approach—drugs were used to treat mental illness rather than lobotomies or ECT—took place in the latter half of the 1950s.The main methods for treating mental disorders in the early 20th century were psychotherapies with psychoanalytic roots, which were used to treat people with neuroses, and residential care in mental hospitals, which was used to treat people with psychoses.In terms of treating mental disorders, the 1970s saw an increase in the sophistication and specificity of already-in-use treatments. There was a growing emphasis on the detrimental effects of various treatments, such as deinstitutionalization, and some treatments’ scientific underpinnings became more solid.