Hx of Mental Illness - 17th & 18th CEs

Question 1

• Described honey-tasting urine as symptoms of a fatal disease (diabetes)
• Said that foolishness was a sx of the passages in the brain being too loos, animal spirits flowing too freely,and that it was ridiculous behavior

Answer 1

Thomas Willis

Question 2

Said that the brain, not emotions or the heart or the womb, was the cause of hysteria

Answer 2

Charles Lepois

Question 3

• Gave first detailed description of sx’s of hysteria
• Said it included a range of diseases due to disturbances in the animal spirits in the nerves
• Treatments: physical activity, spa waters, appetite stimulants

Answer 3

Thomas Sydenham (1680s & 90s)

Question 4

• First to refer to sx’s as “nervousness”
• Said illness was induced by rich food, spices, or alcohol
• Is especially harsh in those with delicate nerves
• Entirely mechanistic in his approach

Answer 4

George Cheyne (1671-1743)

Question 5

• Invented the term “neurosis”
• Nerves “too tight”: mania and hysteria
• Nerves “too loose”: depression

Answer 5

William Cullen (1710-1790)

Question 6

• ANS carries irritation from the viscera (guts)
• Corrupting influence of civilization cases nervousness
• Working class and poor are incapable of developing certain disorders

Answer 6

Thomas Trotter (1760-1832)

Question 7

Instead of being cared for by family or parish, mentally ill were taken away from families and the poor were bused to the country/viewed negatively; started to treat mentally ill as animals

Answer 7

Treatment of mental illness in the 17th-18th centuries

Question 8

• Segregated different types of patients (active vs. inactive)
• Favored bathing and mild purgatives
• Stopped blood-letting
• Argued against punishment
• Maintained case histories and stats
• Also used diversions, distractions, and “staring down” of patients
• Developed a psychiatric nosology

Answer 8

Philippe Pinel (1745-1826)

Question 9

• Ideas coincided with the great awakening (1795-1835) which promoted ideas of perfectibility
• Cause = debility (exhaustion); could come from action (excessive stimulation) or abstraction (under stimulation); both led to inflammation of the brain and loss of reason
• Tx = drawing blood away from head by cold showers, calming the patient, purging of stomach contents, massive bloodletting
• Contributed to the rise of the asylum movement (creating more places for tx)

Answer 9

Benjamin Rush