Psychosis: Treatment

0
6كيلو بايت

Early civilizations considered madness a supernaturally inflicted phenomenon. Archaeologists have unearthed skulls with clearly visible drillings, some datable back to 5000 BC suggesting that trepanning was a common treatment for psychosis in ancient times. Written record of supernatural causes and resultant treatments can be traced back to the New Testament. Mark 5:8–13 describes a man displaying what would today be described as psychotic symptoms. Christ cured this "demonic madness" by casting out the demons and hurling them into a herd of swine. Exorcism is still utilized in some religious circles as a treatment for psychosis presumed to be demonic possession. A research study of out-patients in psychiatric clinics found that 30 percent of religious patients attributed the cause of their psychotic symptoms to evil spirits. Many of these patients underwent exorcistic healing rituals that, though largely regarded as positive experiences by the patients, had no effect on symptomology. Results did, however, show a significant worsening of psychotic symptoms associated with exclusion of medical treatment for coercive forms of exorcism.

The medical teachings of the fourth-century philosopher and physician Hippocrates of Cos proposed a natural, rather than supernatural, cause of human illness. In Hippocrates' work, the Hippocratic corpus, a holistic explanation for health and disease was developed to include madness and other "diseases of the mind". Hippocrates writes:

Men ought to know that from the brain, and from the brain only, arise our pleasures, joys, laughter, and jests, as well as our sorrows, pains, griefs and tears. Through it, in particular, we think, see, hear, and distinguish the ugly from the beautiful, the bad from the good, the pleasant from the unpleasant.... It is the same thing which makes us mad or delirious, inspires us with dread and fear, whether by night or by day, brings sleeplessness, inopportune mistakes, aimless anxieties, absentmindedness, and acts that are contrary to habit.
Hippocrates espoused a theory of humoralism wherein disease is resultant of a shifting balance in bodily fluids including blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. According to humoralism, each fluid or "humour" has temperamental or behavioral correlates. In the case of psychosis, symptoms are thought to be caused by an excess of both blood and yellow bile. Thus, the proposed surgical intervention for psychotic or manic behavior was bloodletting.

18th-century physician, educator, and widely considered "founder of American psychiatry", Benjamin Rush, also prescribed bloodletting as a first-line treatment for psychosis. Although not a proponent of humoralism, Rush believed that active purging and bloodletting were efficacious corrections for disruptions in the circulatory system, a complication he believed was the primary cause of "insanity". Although Rush's treatment modalities are now considered antiquated and brutish, his contributions to psychiatry, namely the biological underpinnings of psychiatric phenomenon including psychosis, have been invaluable to the field. In honor of such contributions, Benjamin Rush's image is in the official seal of the American Psychiatric Association.

البحث
الأقسام
إقرأ المزيد
القصص
10 OF THE BLOODIEST WARS IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND
The history of mankind is the history of wars. The Swiss Jean-Jacques Babel calculated that in...
بواسطة FWhoop Xelqua 2022-10-24 10:46:26 0 30كيلو بايت
التصميم
10 Tips on How to Make Money as a Designer
You might think that the matter is in the lack of higher education, but today it is not necessary...
بواسطة FWhoop Xelqua 2022-10-15 14:08:28 0 29كيلو بايت
Skateboarding
Skateboarding: The Thrill of Artistic Freedom
Skateboarding: The Thrill of Artistic Freedom Skateboarding is more than just a sport; it's a...
بواسطة Leonard Pokrovski 2024-07-08 01:59:39 0 12كيلو بايت
Internet
How to make your Telegram channel popular in 2023
Telegram is one of the three most popular messengers. There is an adult and active audience here,...
بواسطة FWhoop Xelqua 2023-06-04 19:52:03 0 17كيلو بايت
Социальные проблемы
Бен-Гур. Ben-Hur. (1959)
Действие фильма начинается в Палестине в 26 году от Рождества Христова. Два друга, иудей Бен Гур...
بواسطة Nikolai Pokryshkin 2023-03-23 18:08:29 0 23كيلو بايت
image/svg+xml


BigMoney.VIP Powered by Hosting Pokrov