Mental health has been an important topic of interest ever since the beginning of our human understanding of brains, personalities, and the mind. So, how did our distant ancestors view mental illness and what did they do about it?
In the very distant past (recorded to be up to 7000 years ago), people would attempt to resolve mental health illnesses by drilling a hole in the skull. Yes, literally. The rationale behind this was that spirits that lived inside people’s heads supposedly caused mental illness, and therefore, drilling a hole would allow the spirits to escape. As time passed, instruments were actually invented specifically for this purpose. This all may sound gruesome and unreasonable, but it just goes to show how difficult it was to understand mental health and how far mankind has come in understanding it.
In Ancient Persia, people believed that maintaining good health and hygiene could help keep away from demons that contribute to mental illnesses. For the Mesopotamians, mental illness was a sign of demonic possession, the solution of which was believed to be methods such as prayer, exorcisms, and mythical rituals. The Ancient Egyptians, while also having believed in demonic influences on mental health, were actually relatively advanced in that they identified the brain as the control centre of mental activity and utilized methods of curing mental illness that can be considered more “modern” (Ex. art, music, dance, etc.).
One of the most important and impressive advances in the human attitude towards mental illness was when Hippocrates, an Ancient Greek physician, emphasized the physical and bodily causes of mental illnesses. Although the understanding of bodily substances at the time (consisting simply of blood, phlegm, bile, etc) was not even close to our modern understanding of neurological processes, it was still definitely a huge step forward.
Although we still have many unresolved issues in the area of mental health. It is interesting and important to note how far we have come as a species, both in terms scientific knowledge and social understanding. This brings me a heart-warming amount of hope!
Written by Jenny Li