History of Abnormal Psychology

Briefly discuss the developmental history of abnormal psychology/Psychopathology.
Ans: Abnormal psychology has a fascinating history and so many people have tried to explain
and control abnormal behavior for thousands of years. As the result, historically there have been
six eras or views of abnormal behavior. These are:
1. Ancient view
2. Greek and Roman view
3. Middle age
4. The Renaissance and the rise of asylums
5. The nineteenth century
6. The early twentieth century
Ancient view: Historians who have examined the unearthed bones, artwork and other
remnants of ancient societies have concluded that these societies probably regard abnormal
behavior as the work of evil spirits. People in prehistoric societies apparently believed that all
events around and within them resulted from the action of magical, sometimes sinister beings
who controlled the world. In particular, they viewed the human body and mind as a battleground
between external forces of good and evil. Abnormal behavior was typically interpreted as a
victory by evil spirits, and the cure for such behavior was to force the demons from a victim's
body. There is an evidence than stone age cultures used trephination, a primitive form of brain
surgery, to treat abnormal behavior. People of early societies also sought to drive out evil spirits
by exorcism.
Greek and Roman view: In the years from roughly 500 B.C to 500 A.D, when Greek and
Roman civilization thrived, philosophers and physicians often offered different explanations and
treatments for abnormal behaviors. Hippocrates, who was called the father of modern medicine,
taught that illness had natural causes. He saw abnormal behavior as a disease arising from
internal physical problems. He believed that some form of brain pathology was the culprit and
that it resulted-like all other forms of disease, in his view- from an imbalance of four fluids or
humors, that flowed through the body: yellow bile, black bile, blood and phlegm. An excess of
yellow bile caused mania, a state of frenzied activity; an excess of black bile was the source of
melancholia, a condition marked by unshakable sadness. Hippocrates sought to correct the
underlying physical pathology through diet and lifestyle.
Middle age: From 500 to 1350 A D the period known as the middle age. In the middle age,
Europeans returned to demonological explanations of the great stress and anxiety of urban
uprisings and plagues. People blamed the devil for these troubles and feared being possessed
by it. Abnormal behavior apparently increased greatly during this period. There were outbreaks
of mass madness, in which a large number of people apparently shared delusions, and
hallucinations. There were also outbreaks of a disorder named tarantism. Group of people who
were suffering from this disorder would suddenly start to jump, dance and go into convulsions.
They sought to cure their disorder by performing a dance called tarantella. In another form of
mass madness was lycanthropy. People thought they were possessed by wolves or other
animals. Exorcisms were revived and clergyman, who generally were in charge of treatment
during this period, would plead, chant or pray to the evil spirit.
The Renaissance: Care for people with mental disorders continued to improve during the early
part of the Renaissance. During the early part of Renaissance, a period of flourishing cultural
and scientific activity from about 1400 to 1700, demonological views of abnormality continued to
decline. German physician Johann Weyer, the first physician to specialize in mental illness,
believed that the mind was as susceptible to sickness as the body was. Unfortunately, these
improvements in care began to fade by mid-sixteenth century. Government officials discovered
that private homes and community residences could house only a small percentage of those
with severe mental disorders and that medical hospitals were too few and too small. More and
more, they converted hospitals and monasteries into asylum.
The nineteenth century: As 1800 approached, the treatments of people with mental disorders
began to improve once again. Historians usually point to La Bicetre, an asylum in Paris for male
patients, the the first site of asylum reform. In 1793, during the French revolution, Philippe pinel
was named the chief physician there. He started the movement toward moral treatment. Similar
reforms were brought to England by William Tuke. In the United states Dorothea Dix spread
headed a movement to ensure legal rights and protections for people with mental disorders and
to establish state hospitals for their care. Unfortunately, the mental treatment movement
disintegrated by the late 19th century, and mental hospitals again became warehouses where
inmates received minimal care.
The early twentieth century: As moral movement was declining in the late 1800s, two
opposing perspectives emerged and began to compete for the attention of clinicians. These are:
● Somatogenic perspective: The view that abnormal psychological functioning is caused
primarily by physical factors. Key to this development was the work of Emil Kraepelin in
the late 1800s and the findings that general paresis was caused by the organic disease
Syphilis.
● Psychogenic perspective: The view that the chief causes of abnormal functioning are
psychological. An important factor in its rise was the use of hypnotism to treat patients
with hysterical disorders. Sigmund Freud's psychogenic approach, psychoanalysis,
eventually gained wide acceptance and influenced future generations of clinicians.
The past 50 years have brought significant changes in the understanding and treatment of
abnormal functioning. In the 1950s, researchers discovered a number of new psychotropic
medications, drugs that mainly affect the brain and reduce many symptoms of mental
dysfunctions. Their success contributed to a policy of deinstitutionalization, under which
thousands of patients were released from public mental hospitals.
So, these are all about the history of development of abnormal psychology/ psychopathology.

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Briefly discuss the developmental history of abnormal psychology/Psychopathology.

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