HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY

Historical Perspectives of Abnormal Psychology

As far back as history can call to mind, dissimilar forms of madness have been documented in every culture and multitudes of theories and myths have been developed to account for such circumstances. Where abnormal behavior was acknowledged and how it was treated, how abnormal psychology developed into a scientific discipline, and the theoretical models connected to the expansion of abnormal psychology.

Origins of Abnormal Psychology

The field of abnormal psychology goes back about 100 years, but the recognition of what people deemed as abnormal behavior goes as far back as primitive and pre-modern societies. Associated with animism a primitive form of surgery, called trephination was performed, which consisted of cutting an opening or drilling a few holes in the skull of a living person, thus releasing the evil spirits that were causing the abnormal behavior. Surprisingly enough, evidence showed that a good number of these patients survived the procedure! Exorcism became a second method associated with animism which described a ritual carried out by religious authorities by means of casting out evil spirits thought to have caused the pathological behavior in an individual.

During Greek and Roman civilizations a more scientific view of mental illness begins to develop. The foundation of a systematic approach to psychological and physical disorders began with the Greek philosopher, Hippocrates who believed that all diseases, including mental disorders were caused by the imbalance of four fluids or humours that were thought to circulate throughout the body (Susan & Vaughan 2008). He theorized that an excess of black bile would cause a person to become melancholic (depressed) and an excess of yellow bile would make a person choleric (anxious or irritable).

Overview as a Scientific Discipline

During the Middle Ages almost no scientific ...