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Today we have so many diagnosis- borderline personality, autism, aspergers, narcissism, depression, anxiety, this complex, that complex psychopath, sociopath, seasonal effecting mood swings, bipolar....list goes on and on. When I look at the symptoms of any of these I feel like I am a sufferer of that. Literally each and everyone of those diagnosis. So I wonder......is it just me lacking a willpower having no balls and faking it, or is there something wrong over which I have little control over. You read in the news how ADHD is on the rise and people popping tablets like candy in modern society.
So what do you think......did mental illnesses of all these kinds exist in all of history....ancient Greece or Egypt. Or the 17th, 18th century? How come people had better attention spans even as little back as the 60s? Was ADHD even a concern in 1965?
What I am trying to get at is, is something else at play now which wasn't so before? If people didn't die out of stupidity and diseases at 40 in the ancient days would they have happier, better mental lives than modern men? Is technology to blame in part?
Jonathan Swift - 18th Century writer founded St. Patrick's Hospital for the Mentally Ill in Dublin, Ireland. A plaque in St. Patrick's Cathedral in the same city reads:
"He left the little weath he had
to build a house for fools and mad;
Showing in one satyric touch
No nation needed it so much...."
So, to answer your question -- yes, there have always been mentally ill humans.
Yes, there have always been mentally ill people. Thankfully, with today's medications and treatments, much of their suffering can be alleviated.
As far as identifying with various traits and symptoms, it might be helpful to note that perfectly normal people can have these traits or impulses - they just don't act on them or fixate on them, and they don't have the entire chain of traits that are listed for each of these diagnoses.
Did you know that medical students in their second year are notorious for thinking they have each of the diseases they study? You may be experiencing something similar. How about reading about how to help yourself live a more emotionally healthy life, in place of reading up on mental disorders? It might be more productive for you. Ask to be shown the self-help section in your local public library, and you'll find lots of good books (some better than others).
Today we have so many diagnosis- borderline personality, autism, aspergers, narcissism, depression, anxiety, this complex, that complex psychopath, sociopath, seasonal effecting mood swings, bipolar....list goes on and on. When I look at the symptoms of any of these I feel like I am a sufferer of that. Literally each and everyone of those diagnosis. So I wonder......is it just me lacking a willpower having no balls and faking it, or is there something wrong over which I have little control over. You read in the news how ADHD is on the rise and people popping tablets like candy in modern society.
So what do you think......did mental illnesses of all these kinds exist in all of history....ancient Greece or Egypt. Or the 17th, 18th century? How come people had better attention spans even as little back as the 60s? Was ADHD even a concern in 1965?
What I am trying to get at is, is something else at play now which wasn't so before? If people didn't die out of stupidity and diseases at 40 in the ancient days would they have happier, better mental lives than modern men? Is technology to blame in part?
Why do you think that?
Do you think no-one in history had ever had Alzheimer's disease before it was first identified? Or pancreatic cancer?
I believe there have always been mentally ill people, but before the onslaught of big pharma a lot of people probably used sleeping pills, alcohol, etc for issues. Remember those "tonics" and "elixers" being peddled around back in the day? A lot of those probably contained a healthy percentage of alcohol, cocaine, or opiates.
However, I believe that the combination of genetically modfied foods (from baby formula to regular food), the obsession to "feel good" 24/7 and doctors that have to diagnose (issue pills for every ill) in 2 minutes and keep it moving have messed around with the brain chemistry big time. I know there are truly mentally ill people that need and benefit from meds, but there are even more people that, with access to countless WebMD-like websites and symptom checkers, deem themselves candidates to jump on the pill train.
Yes People in history had these diseases!!!!
However, Some diseases were not known as they are today.. like Alzheimer's was only named in the early twentieth century, but the history of Alzheimer's Disease may have started well before that. Alzheimer's is a difficult disease to diagnose, and the ancients didn't have the rigorous scientific standards we use today, but it appears the brain degeneration, cognitive impairment and disturbing behavioral and psychiatric problems which characterize the disease have most likely been around for hundreds of years.
When people had something wrong with them back then or thousands of years ago (unless they were bed ridden) others thought they were just crazy and put them in a room or in a home (insane hospital) and kept them there until they died. Unless you lived in certain parts of England or Salem Massachusetts then you were considered a witch and hung or put in prison to rot.
Illnesses were just that an Illness they didn't have a certain names for them and didn't have ways of treating them.. This is why people did not live long back then. There are only a few diseases that were named like bubonic or Black Plague, pestilence, Flu, Tuberculosis, Measles, Smallpox, Cholera.. just some diseases that were well known through out the centuries!.
As for Mental Illnesses in the middles ages, They were thought to be caused by demons, demonic possessions, witch craft and sorcery, Mass hysteria, and Melancholy or Stress. This was believed up until the mid 1900's.. Probably some still believe this today
Read about the history of hysteria. It's very interesting
While I agree people are over diagnososing, especially children, mental illness has been around for as long as humans have been humans.
I think adhd, the extent of it is influenced by modern culture. Not enough free time, not enough exercise. Too much screen time. Etc. But that is my personal experience. I also think kids are misdiagnosed greatly.
Also read about the history of witch burning, faith healing, exorcism in relation to pre therapy/pharma with mental illness. People were thought to be possessed, witches, etc when they had mental illness.
In some primitive societies these days schizophrenics are honored as having special spiritual powers.
Do you think no-one in history had ever had Alzheimer's disease before it was first identified? Or pancreatic cancer?
I don't get your logic.
I thought that his point is that it seems to be a virtual epidemic in current society, and alphabet soup of mental illness and syndromes, and he is wondering if this same condition was the case in the past.
I wonder this myself sometimes. I grew up in a small town in the Forties and Fifties, and the number of elderly people with dementia seemed very few, so few you knew who they were. Now that same town has a residence devoted entirely to people with AZ and every room is taken. My aunt was the last resident who was not admitted for dementia or AZ, and this was in the early 90's.
Also read about the history of witch burning, faith healing, exorcism in relation to pre therapy/pharma with mental illness. People were thought to be possessed, witches, etc when they had mental illness.
In some primitive societies these days schizophrenics are honored as having special spiritual powers.
I think you will find that a good number of those accused were persons who were accused as part of long-standing grudges and feuds, and not entirely those who displayed anti-social conduct.
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