As we discuss our physical health and how our views on it have changed over the decades, it’s important to remember mental health has had quite the journey of its own. Beginning with ancient civilizations, yet with no end in sight, mental health and the stigma around it have evolved tremendously. 

Early Civilizations

Many ancient civilizations believed mental illness was connected to supernatural or spiritual forces, with many attributing it to demonic possession or divine punishment. This was especially prevalent in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and early Europe, where rituals, prayers, exorcisms, and spells were used in an attempt to expel the demon within or shake off the wrath of a vengeful god. However, as time went on, people began to take a more clinical approach.

Hippocrates speculated that mental disorders were caused by an imbalance in four “humors”, or bodily fluids (blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm), and that natural, “humoral” remedies such as exercise, bathing, or bloodletting, could be used to correct this imbalance.

In Ancient China, mental health was similarly linked to the Qi harmony, or the harmony of the vital lifeforce. To correct disruptions in this flow, acupuncture, herbs, and meditation were prescribed. 

Medieval Ages

In Medieval times, views on mental health were largely religious. Though many held onto the Hippocratic belief in the four humors, the consensus was that mental health issues were caused by divine punishment and a lack of God’s protection. For example, depression was viewed as the sin of sloth and looked down upon.

Those who didn’t attribute it to sin attributed it to witchcraft, creating a stigma on mental health built on paranoia and superstition. Doctors used exorcisms, prayers, cleansing baths, and fasting to combat what they believed were the actions of demons. Those suffering were treated as social deviants and largely ostracized from society. 

The Enlightenment and the 19th Century

The Enlightenment worked to cut down the superstition and paranoia in society and replace it with scientific and/or clinical explanations. Mental health was no longer an issue of divine punishment, but a condition that required medical treatment. French physician Philippe Pinel and English philanthropist William Tuke both advocated for more humane treatment of mental patients, focusing more on environment, compassion, and routine rather than harsh punishment.

The “Kirkbride Plan” of the 1840s advocated for comfortable and restorative asylums where the mentally ill could be separated and cured. However, by the late 1800s, a majority of them were overcrowded and understaffed, leading to the issues of the 20th century. 

20th Century

In the early 1900s, asylums were crowded institutions where patients were treated like prisoners, forced to deal with poor living conditions, and unable to escape. However, in the 1930s-1950s, asylums saw a rise in risky, inhumane experimentation with different procedures. Lobotomies- a practice that severed nerve pathways in the prefrontal lobes by coming in through the eye with an ice pick-, insulin coma therapy, and electroconvulsive therapy were used to try to fix mental ailments, all of which were often done without proper anesthesia.

In California alone, roughly 45,000 people died in asylums in twenty years. However, the discovery of chlorpromazine in 1951 and its introduction in 1952 revolutionized psychiatry. Marketed under the name Largactil, it was used to reduce the hallucinations, irritation, and delusions of schizophrenia, psychosis, and mania. Its introduction made it so that many patients could be treated outside of asylums and assisted in the gradual decline of these institutions.

By the 1980s, mental health patients were receiving community-based support alongside new medications that allowed them to move away from inpatient care.

21st Century

Today, mental health is seen as an important aspect of overall well-being. Younger generations, especially Gen Z, have brought higher awareness to mental health and broken down the stigma of previous centuries.

With increasing rates of both depression and anxiety, it becomes all the more important to stress the importance of receiving mental health treatment not only for the betterment of society, but for the betterment of the individual.