Chapter 15: Early Considerations of Mental Illness

Question 1

Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893)

Answer 1

French, Helped shape early understanding of mental illness. Correlated patients’ symptoms with specific abnormalities in the brain and spinal cord. Rejected the idea of hysteria only used to malinger and proposed hysterical patients were suffering from genuine diseases. Emphasized the origins of mental illness symptoms as psychological not physiological.

Question 2

Marquis de Puységur (1751–1825)

Answer 2

Built on Franz Anton Mesmer’s work on animal magnetism in the development of hypnotism. Discovered inducing a sleeplike trance (artificial somnambulism) could produce therapeutic results in patients. Lead to the understanding of suggestibility in individuals during a trance state, found that individuals were highly suggestible and could be made to perform actions without recollection upon waking giving insights into the nature of hypnosis and its application in therapeutic settings.

Question 3

Dorothea Lynde Dix (1802–1887)

Answer 3

Caused several states (and foreign countries) to reform their facilities for treating mental illness by making them more available to those needing them and more humane in their treatment

Question 4

Hippocrates (c. 460–377 BC)

Answer 4

Greek, The “Father of Medicine” and developer of the Hippocratic Corpus. Argued that all mental and physical disorders had natural causes and that treatment of such disorders should consist of such things as rest, proper diet, and exercise

Question 5

Pierre Janet (1859–1947)

Answer 5

French, Like Charcot, theorized that components of the personality, such as traumatic memories, could become dissociated from the rest of the personality and that these dissociated components are responsible for the symptoms of hysteria and for hypnotic phenomena

Question 6

Emil Kraepelin (1856–1926)

Answer 6

French, Published a list of categories of mental illness in 1883. Until recent times, many clinicians used this list to diagnose mental illness. Today the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DMS) serves the same purpose. A pioneer in the field known today as psychopharmacology

Question 7

Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1815)

Answer 7

German, Used what he thought were his strong magnetic powers to redistribute the magnetic fields of his patients, thus curing them of their ailments.

Question 8

Philippe Pinel (1745–1826)

Answer 8

Among the first, in modern times, to view people with mental illness as sick people rather than criminals, beasts, or possessed individuals. In the asylums of which he was in charge, ordered that patients be unchained and treated with kindness in a peaceful atmosphere. Responsible for many innovations in the treatment and understanding of mental illness

Question 8

Benjamin Rush (1745–1813)

Answer 8

American, Often called the first U.S. psychiatrist. Advocated the humane treatment of people with mental illness but still clung to some earlier treatments, such as bloodletting and the use of rotating chairs

Question 9

Thomas Szasz (1920–2012)

Answer 9

Hungarian-American, Psychiatrist best known for his book, The Myth of Mental Illness, which reconsiders how abnormality should be understood and treated in the current era. Challenged the prevailing view of mental illness was purely physiological, arguing that many psychiatric disorders were reflections of problems in living or nonconformity rather than genuine diseases.

Question 10

Lightner Witmer (1867–1956)

Answer 10

American, Considered to be the founder of clinical psychology. Established the worlds first psychological clinic at the University of Pennsylvania to conduct assessments and provide therapeutic services. Addressed the psychological and educational needs of children with developmental challenges leading to the emergence of specialized interventions and treatment approached for individuals with diverse psychological and cognitive conditions.

Question 11

Animal magnetism

Answer 11

Coined by Franz Mesmer. Describe a hypothetical natural force that he believed could be harnessed to cure patients. For instance, Mesmer’s use of magnets and the belief in the existence of an invisible magnetic fluid within the human body represented his concept of animal magnetism.

Question 12

Artificial somnambulism

Answer 12

Introduced by Marquis de Puységur. Described a sleeplike trance state induced in individuals through hypnotic techniques. For example, Puységur’s discovery of the ability to induce a trance in patients without the need for dramatic crises or magnetic rituals illustrated the concept of artificial somnambulism.

Question 13

Contagion effect

Answer 13

The tendency for people to be more susceptible to suggestion when in a group than when alone

Question 14

Homeopathic magic

Answer 14

The type of sympathetic magic involving the belief that doing something to a likeness of a person will influence that person

Question 15

Medical model of mental illness

Answer 15

The assumption that mental illness results from such biological causes as brain damage, impaired neural transmissions, or bio- chemical abnormalities

Question 16

Nancy school

Answer 16

A group of physicians and psychologists associated with the University of Nancy in France. Believed that because all humans are suggestible, all humans can be hypnotized

Question 17

Natural law

Answer 17

The belief prevalent in the 18th century that undesirable or sinful behavior has negative consequences such as mental or physical disease or poverty and virtuous behaviour has positive consequences such as good health or prosperity

Question 18

Posthypnotic amnesia

Answer 18

The tendency for a person to forget what happens to him or her while under hypnosis

Question 19

Posthypnotic suggestion

Answer 19

A suggestion that a person receives while under hypnosis and acts on when he or she is again in the waking state

Question 20

Psychological model of mental illness

Answer 20

The assumption that mental illness results from such psychological causes as conflict, anxiety, faulty beliefs, frustration, or traumatic experience

Question 21

Supernatural model of mental illness

Answer 21

The assumption that mental illness is caused by malicious, spiritual entities entering the body or by the will of God

Question 22

Sympathetic magic

Answer 22

The belief that by influencing things that are similar to a person or that were once close to that person, one can influence the person

Question 23

Trephination

Answer 23

The technique of chipping or drilling holes in a person’s skull, presumably used by primitive humans to allow evil spirits to escape