History of Mental Health Treatment

9 Key excerpts on "History of Mental Health Treatment"

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  eBook - ePub

  An Introduction to Mental Health

  • Jo Augustus, Justine Bold, Briony Williams(Authors)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  1 A History of Mental Health Briony Williams Justine Bold

  Learning Objectives

  After studying this chapter you will be able to:

  • understand the history of mental health from a bio-psycho-social perspective;
  • understand specific interventions that were used in the treatment of mental health conditions;
  • consider how history has helped shape and develop current mental health practices.

  Introduction

  In the past there have been many explanations for understanding mental illness including possession by the devil and punishment by a god, curses of witches or wizards and also physical causes such as bad humors and an imbalance of chemicals. The ancient Greek writer Homer interpreted the ‘irrational’ elements in human nature as an interference by the gods. In some cultures today these explanations still exist. Psychological explanations did not emerge until fairly recently. These biological, social and psychological theories about the origins of mental illness influenced and directed the treatments and services. New treatments were generally developed because of expanding knowledge and changing societal views. However, where people were cared for (i.e. at home, in the community, hospital or in an asylum) was influenced by societal views of mental illness. Biological, psychological and social explanations gained power at different times in history and at some points in history competed for supremacy. There are still biological, psychological and social theories of the origins of mental health problems, which make the causes of mental illness difficult to understand. Modern-day psychiatry is criticised for having a primarily biological understanding of mental illness (Scull 2014). The rise in biological psychiatry is viewed by Bentall (2004) as ‘owing more to politics and financial interests of drug companies than to science and evidence’ (p. 173). After the Second World War there was a move by psychiatrists in America to put forward psychological explanations of mental health problems, and cures involved talking therapy (Scull 2011). The social model that emerged from the disability movement in the late twentieth century meant that service users started to be more willing to question the opinion of professionals and be less willing to accept what they are told by consultants

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  International Perspectives on Mental Health

  Critical issues across the lifespan

  • Barbara Fawcett, Zita Weber, Sheila Wilson(Authors)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • Bloomsbury Academic

    (Publisher)

  In recent years, there have been demands in many countries for mental health services to be evaluated in terms of citizenship and human rights principles (Hazelton, 2005), but so far little overall has been achieved. Newnes comments, ‘The way we tell the histories of psychiatric events, practices and ideas changes over time’ (2002: 21). Indeed from the vantage point of contemporary mental health policy and practice, considering a list of historical facts only gives a glimpse of some moments in mental health history, with these also pre-dominantly representing the perspectives of the more powerful players. Historical accounts tend not to uncover the complexi-ties of context, the nuances of practices ‘on the ground’ or the professional ‘din’ around various ideologies that have informed understandings about mental health, mental distress and men-tal illness. Mental health professionals have demonstrated a tendency to favour one particular approach to understanding mental ill-health and this is associated with their professional education and background (Coppock and Hopton, 2000; Lester and Glasby, 2006). With the rise of the consumer movement and the active input of ‘carers’ over the past few years, the interplay between socio-cultural, environmental and political fac-tors has been highlighted. Consequently, as Tyrer and Steinberg have suggested, ‘those who imprison themselves within the con-fines of one model only have the perspective of the keyhole’ (2003: 138). Within the various and often conflicting histories of psychiatry which have been produced, many have focused on the implica-tions of entrenched power imbalances and gendered or racist responses. Major contributions in this area include the powerful voices of Showalter (1985), Ussher (1991), Faith (1993), Russell (1995) and Fernando (2003), and we will look at these throughout this book.

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  Mental Health User Narratives

  New Perspectives on Illness and Recovery

  • Bruce M.Z. Cohen(Author)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  Despite conflicting views on the definition and nature of mental illness within the profession – leading to a variety of treatment options – medical intervention continues unabated, encouraged by the pharmaceutical 6 Mental Illness and Psychiatry 7 industry. The result is a continued devaluing and disempowerment of user meanings for illness. 1.2 Histories of madness 1.2.1 The official account The ‘official account’ of psychiatry’s history, as often profiled in medical text books, is one of slow but steady progress from the unenlightened days of the mistreatment of lunatics in places like Bedlam to the present state of medical expertise (Johnstone 1989). Three key phases are cited in the official account of this progression. Firstly, the shift in the 19th century from primitive views of madness as caused by supernatural agencies to a more sophisticated medical view, with the era of ‘moral treatment’ ending the worse excesses. Secondly, the development of some local outpatients and aftercare facilities in the 1930s, as well as the discovery of new treatments such as insulin coma therapy and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Thirdly, the ‘drug revolution’ of the 1950s which enabled discharge and the possibility of users living outside of the psychiatric hospital. Thus, psychiatry becomes accepted as part of the medical establishment and patients avoid the stigma of the old asylums by attending psychiatric units at general hospitals ( Johnstone 1989: 172–3). The history of madness and psychiatry that I will outline chal- lenges this official account, highlighting social, economic and political processes in the identification and treatment of those considered ‘mad’. As Miller (1986: 13) has stated, ‘the history of psychiatry is a history of fundamental transformations of its institutional, theoretical, profes- sional and judicial existence.

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  Mind, State and Society

  Social History of Psychiatry and Mental Health in Britain 1960–2010

  • George Ikkos, Nick Bouras(Authors)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • RCPsych Publications

    (Publisher)

  History of Psychiatry (2011) 22: 201–14. 37. M. V. Seeman, Forty-five years of schizophrenia: Personal reflections. History of Psychiatry (2006) 17: 363–73. 38. A. Donald, The Wal-Marting of American psychiatry: An ethnography of psychiatric practice in the late-twentieth century. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry (December 2001) 25: 467–72. 39. P. Fennell, Treatment without Consent: Law, Psychiatry, and the Treatment of Mentally Disordered People Since 1845. London: Routledge, 1996, p. 156. 40. Quoted in ibid., p. 158. 41. M. S. Micale, The ten most important changes in psychiatry since World War II. History of Psychiatry (2014): 25: 485–91; D. Healy, The Creation of Psychopharmacology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002. 42. H. A. Nasrallah, Transformative advances unfolding in psychiatry. Current Psychiatry (2019) 18: 10–12. 43. P. Prior and G. McClelland, Through the lens of the hospital magazine: Downshire and Holywell psychiatric hospitals in the 1960s and 1970s. History of Psychiatry (2013) 24: 399–414. 12 Social and Institutional Contexts Chapter 2 The International Context Edward Shorter Introduction There is a distinctive British tradition of psychiatry that goes back to the earliest days embodied in such institutions as the York Retreat. What is the definition of ‘insanity’?, asked James Sims in 1799. It is, he said, ‘the thinking, and therefore speaking and acting differently from the bulk of mankind, where that difference does not arise from superior knowledge, ignorance, or prejudice’. 1 It is a definition that has never been surpassed. The late 1950s and early 1960s were a period of dynamic change in British psychiatry. The Mental Health Act in 1959 saw a vast expansion of outpatient care and made it possible for clinicians to admit patients without the intervention of the magistrate.

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  Care of the Psyche

  A History of Psychological Healing

  • Stanley Jackson(Author)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • Yale University Press

    (Publisher)

  P A R T O N E Introductory Considerations This page intentionally left blank Introduction Several decades of study and teaching in the history of medicine have left me significantly impressed by the recurrent indications of psychological heal-ing endeavors over many centuries. And many years as a practitioner and teacher of psychotherapy have sensitized me to the problems inherent in com-paring and contrasting the various approaches to psychotherapy. Why were there such suggestive similarities between this approach and that approach, and yet why did they still seem so different? This book grew out of the realization that the similarities between ap-proaches stemmed from shared ingredients and that the differences largely derived from different approaches composed of varying combinations of a relatively small number of ingredients. And so I undertook these explorations into the history of a selection of basic elements that are found recurrently in the twentieth-century psychotherapies, in the mental therapeutics of the nine-teenth century, and in innumerable forms of mental healing over the centuries. Although so many of our modern psychotherapies have relatively short his-tories — anywhere from a few decades to a hundred years—the elements out of which most of them have been constituted date back many centuries. This work is a study of the history of psychological healing in the care and cure of human ailments. First, many and varied psychological measures have been employed over the centuries in efforts to cure or relieve mental dis-orders or illnesses. Another rich tradition has been that in which psychological I 3 4 Introductory Considerations treatment measures have been used to bring help, relief, or cure to those suffering from physical illnesses, including both those which we in the twen-tieth century would conceive of as having a clearly organic basis and those which we might term psychosomatic disorders.

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  Mental Health Care Financing in the Process of Change (Volume 8.0)

  • Ingrid Zechmeister(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Peter Lang International Academic Publishers

    (Publisher)

  In the critics' view, the beginning of the medical treatment of mental illness was neither due to an altruistic motive nor was it the Ingrid Zechmeister - 978-3-631-75434-4 Downloaded from PubFactory at 01/11/2019 04:56:41AM via free access Perspectives of Mental Illness 25 result of available effective treatment methods but it was rather due to the self-interests of medical professionals. What these critical positions have in common is that they draw attention to the issue that what has been defined as mental illness has also to be seen in the light of various forms of social control and norms. Although the theories have somehow fallen out of fashion nowadays, similar topics have also been raised in more recent work. For example, Astbury (2002, 149) remarks that all diagnostic criteria and assessments of mental health depend on the theoretical constructs of human behaviour, on what is believed to constitute the normal, and how this can be clearly distinguished from the pathological. To conclude, this thesis is based on the notion of a factual reality of mental illness. Nevertheless, the critical arguments are particularly valuable to maintain a reflective approach concerning value-judgements and tacit cultural knowledge which may constantly shape this reality. 2.2. Terminology and Definitions The previous chapter has shed some light on the historical developments in psychiatry. In the following paragraphs this information will be applied in order to define terms which will be used in the remainder of the text. Hence, I am going to outline what I mean by 'mental illness' and 'mental health care' and which terms will be used for people who are affected by a mental illness. As I have shown in the previous part, rather than being based on a single concept, markedly different perspectives and frameworks of the nature of mental illness exist.

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  Introduction to Psychological Science

  Integrating Behavioral, Neuroscience and Evolutionary Perspectives

  • William J. Ray(Author)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)
• A variety of classes of medications have been used in the treatment of schizophrenia. What are they, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
• What is it about personality disorders that makes them difficult to treat? What factors do effective treatments have in common to address those difficulties?
• What are the major treatments for autism spectrum disorder and ADHD?

Summary

Learning Objective 1: Discuss the history of psychopathology and its treatments.

Although the Greek and Roman periods saw individuals who attempted to understand psychopathology in a more humane way, this disappeared as their civilizations declined. As the Middle Ages approached, disease and especially mental illness was seen from the standpoint of a religious perspective with the devil being a major player. In 1330, a convent of the order of St. Mary of Bethlehem became the first institution for the mentally ill in England. Two hundred years later, King Henry VIII gave the institution a royal charter.

In the 1800s, there was a campaign in England to change the conditions of the patients, which led to the establishment of the Committee on Madhouses in 1815. This issued in a period of concern for the patients rather than seeing them as objects of curiosity as in the previous century. Treatment for patients during the 1800s brought new practices, including the therapeutic value of work. During this period, there was a spirit throughout the world to adopt a “moral treatment of the insane.” Three important individuals were Benjamin Rush (1745–1813) in the United States, Philippe Pinel (1745–1826) in France, and Vincenzo Chiarugi (1759–1820) in Italy. In the United States, Rush, who had signed the Declaration of Independence, is often seen as the father of American psychiatry and saw mental illness as a problem of the mind.

William Tuke (1732–1822) was a Quaker philanthropist. In 1796, near York, England, he created a Retreat for Persons Afflicted with Disorders of the Mind.