RE: Psychology Addict # 60 | A Journey Through The History of Madness.

It's pretty crazy how people with mental health concerns were treated back then. "Tourists could gawk at the mad" - wow... its crazy that that occurred back then.

It's very interesting to learn about the history of mental health and how it has progressed over the ages. The terminology (as you pointed out) can be pretty strange as well when we look back on it.

Something that I read recently was about how the social political atmosphere of the time largely effects how mental health concerns are recieved, portrayed, developed and understood which I found very interesting. For instance, the history of hysteria is quite facinating. In the past, Hysteria was basically a female mental disorder at the time. Individuals with similar symptomology today would probably fall into the classification of borderline personality disorder or more simply an individual who had experience complex trauma. Freud and a few other psychiatrists studied hysteria among patients in "mad houses" and determined that the symptoms that these women presented were largely due to having been exposed to severe ongoing physical and sexual abuse starting at a young age - most likely committed by their parents or close relative. The idea was accepted in the begining because the women held in facilities like the ones you described in your post, mostly came from low socioeconomic backgrounds (poor families). It seemed that the idea that the poor abuse their kids was not only accepted but basically "common sense." The philosophy on hysteria started out very victim centric in that the symptoms that these women experienced were largely based on the trauma that they experienced. However, as the field of psychology grew the psychiatrists began to study more and more individuals from a wider variety of backgrounds (not only those contained in mad houses) and they began see that hysteria was also relatively common among wealthy families. The public did not like the implications of that finding though - the notion that some wealthy aristocrats abused their kids in the same way that the poor do was not well recieved. So Freud and the other psychologists shifted their reasoning and philosophy on hysteria and began viewing it under a psychosexual theory that Freud eventually became known for and one that is mostly obsolete and irrelevant today. Under the theory, it was a females disfunctional sexual drives and desires that led to their hysteria.

So the philosophy shifted from blaming the situational trauma inflicted on the women as being the cause for their mental health concern to blaming them for it.

When I read that I found it super interesting because it parallels this moment in history as well. We can see similar situations happening today. For instance, the #metoo movement is happening and we are still seeing some of the same victim blaming taking place in society. It's interesting to me that social politics play a role in the perception and acceptance of mental health.

Anyway, that's super long winded. Your articles always make me stop and think about the topics in depth. Awesome article, well done as usual! I hope you and your husband enjoy the rest of your week and weekend.

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