SCIENTIFIC LOOK AT MENTAL ILLNESS:Philippe Pinel, Sameul Tuke

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History and Systems of Psychology PSY502

Lesson 28

SCIENTIFIC LOOK AT MENTAL ILLNESS

From ancient times, up to the middle of the 18th century, various explanations were given for mental illness;

for example according to the ancient man, mental illness was caused due to the malfunctioning of the soul

which was regarded as a person within a person. In middle ages, mental illness was thought to be caused by

evil spirits and mentally ill people were also considered to be possessed by the devil.

However, in the middle and end of the 18th century, as the outlook of man became more scientific and

rational, mental illness began to be regarded as nervous disease. This marked the beginning of a scientific

outlook towards mental diseases.

Let us go forward now. In the late 18th century in France, there was a wide spread increase in certain mental

diseases. Soon they were diagnosed and regarded as nervous diseases. In 1790 laws were made that

separation of patients suffering from nervous diseases is required, from those suffering from other diseases.

They were also separated from other criminals, thieves and robbers etc. Earlier, mentally ill people were

kept alongside criminals in prison. That was the beginning of the scientific outlook at mental disorders in

Europe, which soon spread throughout the continent.

Philippe Pinel

In 1792 a French physician Philippe Pinel, born 1745, died 1826, took a big step forward by taking

measures that led to freeing mentally sick people from chains from their feet and hand cuffs. After moving

to Paris in 1778, he was appointed (1793) as a director of a hospital. His book is based on observations in

the hospital, advocated humane treatment of mentally ill persons, and then called the insane, and a more

empirical study of mental disease. He further contributed to the development of psychiatry through his

establishment of the practice of keeping well-documented psychiatric case Therefore, Pinel is regarded as

the pioneer in helping society recognize the fact that mental symptoms are a kind of disease, and people

suffering from such disorders should be treated as sick and not considered to be possessed by evil spirits,

demons or the devil.

Sameul Tuke

The same kind of role was played by Sameul Tuke. Tuke was born on July 31, 1784 and died on October

14, 1857. He was born at York, England. He greatly advanced the cause of improving the condition of the

insane. His two sons were also active in humanitarian concerns.

He also freed mental patients from their chains and started to treat them as sick rather than possessed by

spirits, demons or the devil. By the late 19th century science had progressed so much that mental diseases

were regarded as belonging in the realm of diseases and a medical point of view toward their diagnosis and

treatment was adopted.

Franz Mesmer

During the same time mental diseases or insanity was being treated by a method called Mesmerism.

Mesmerism was based upon a method invented by a German physician Franz Mesmer who was born in

1734 and died in 1815. He studied in Vienna. His interest in "animal magnetism" developed into a system

of treatment through hypnotism that was called mesmerism. It seems now that Mesmer was actually treating

psychological illness, but an unsympathetic medical and scientific community caused him to be expelled first

from Vienna, and in 1778 from Paris. He retired to his native Austria and to obscurity.

According to Mesmer, people have a force that he called "animal magnetism," and when the balance of

animal magnetism gets upset in the body, people get mad or insane. Mesmer thought that animal magnetism

History and Systems of Psychology PSY502

can be restored and in order to restore the upset balance Mesmer would touch the insane. By this he

thought he restored the balance of animal magnetism, so helping people to get well. Soon Mesmer's idea

and therapy became popular. People from different parts of the country came for treatment. When the

number of people increased, Mesmer used trees, bath tubs etc. to cater them all. He would dip his body into

the bath tub and people would then put their hands into the water to have their animal magnetism restored.

Gradually it was found that there was no such thing as animal magnetism and that he had no power to

restore animal magnetism. Mesmer fell into bad repute before he died. A British surgeon James Braid took

up the basic spirit of the idea.

James Braid

James Braid was a Scottish neurosurgeon who coined the term and invented the procedure known as

hypnotism. He was born in 1795 and died on March 25, 1860, at Fife. Educated at the University of

Edinburgh, Braid practiced in Scotland for a short time, and then moved to Manchester, England, where he

lived for the rest of his life. Braid became interested in mesmerism in 1841, when he observed

demonstrations given by a traveling mesmerist named Charles Lafontaine. In this book he coined the words

hypnotism, hypnotize, and hypnotist, which remain in use. Braid thought of hypnotism as producing a

"nervous sleep" which differed from ordinary sleep. The most efficient way to produce it was through visual

fixation on a small bright object held eighteen inches above and in front of the eyes. Braid regarded the

physiological condition underlying hypnotism to be the over-exercising of the eye muscles through the

straining of attention. Braid treated many people using hypnotism.

Jean Charcot

Jean Charcot was a French neurologist who was born in 1825 and died in 1893. He developed in Paris the

greatest clinician of his time for the diseases of nervous system. He made many important observations on

these diseases. He wrote an article in one of the prestigious medical journal showing that hypnotism can be

used to treat hysteria. Charcot's insight into the nature of hysteria is credited by Sigmund Freud, his pupil, as

having contributed to the early psychoanalytic formulations on the subject.

Bernheim

Bernheim was a French physician and neurologist who was born in 1840 and died in 1919. He received his

education in his native town and at the University of Strasbourg, where he was graduated as doctor of

medicine. The same year he became a lecturer at the university and established himself as physician in the

city. He had an influence on Sigmund Freud who visited him in 1889. Bernheim is also known as an

antagonist of his contemporary and fellow neurologist Jean Charcot. He showed that hypnotism can not

treat hysteria only but also other mental diseases.

So by the beginning of the 20th century mental diseases were seen as a part of medical diseases and

procedures were tested and adopted to treat them in a scientific manner. After World War II, ICD and

DSM came into being.

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