A Short History of Medical Practice in Greece and Rome

Persons with disabilities have been confronted the physical and mental impediments of their disability, but also with the social stigma and negative social attitudes. A persistent social rejection of people with disabilities is evident throughout history and cross cultures. Ancient Roman and Greek cultures viewed persons with physical disabilities as burdens on society and as less than human. People with mental illness were viewed as either immoral souls punished by God, or as being possessed by demonic spirits requiring exorcisms and other religious interventions.

Negative attitudes and a high degree of social distance towards people with disabilities have been recorded. Attitudes towards mental illness have been referred to as the least socially acceptable.

Roman medicine has had a long history, since overpowering of Grecian control in both secular and religious positions, but religious healing had the more lasting influence. The Etruscan heritage is shown in the early Roman reliance on divination such as religious processions to ward off plagues persisted into the Middle Ages.   As far back as the seventh century B.C. categories for each disease or symptom was alloted for a special divinity.

Over time, superstition gradually gave way to more rational attitudes.  As Rome dominated Greece more and more politically, Greek culture became the dominant force in the intellectual life of the Romans. In medicine the attitudes, methods, and practices were almost entirely Greek.  For the most part each family was attended to by the head of the household but no citizen practiced outside his home.

The number of Greeks and other foreigners continued to transfer into the powerful city of Rome. Many early healers were notably incompetent and unscrupulous, and most were slaves, but more and more Greek and Roman attitudes and methods began gradually to merge.

The acceptance of Greek practitioners in the first century B.C. was influenced by teachings by Erasistratus in the third century B.C. The general public was impressed by his personality, methods, and result. It was reported that he had restored a dead man to life.

 Asclepiads used methods, such as diet; exercise; massage; music and singing. One of his most successful procedures was tracheotomy for obstruction to breathing. For mental illness, he utilized opium, wine, and hygienic measures. He employed bleeding and for fevers used the traditional custom of marked restricting both food and drink.

Most Roman practitioners were mainly slaves and former. Physicians were usually of Greek origin, but Egyptians and Jews also practiced. There were government slave physicians for sick slaves and those who were assistants to free and freedmen physicians.

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As in earlier times in Greece, midwives actively practiced obstetrics. Some women were looked upon as female doctors.

The training of physicians changed from unregulated individual instruction for a fee to supervision   compensated teachers in a school that included courses other than medicine. Bedside teaching was required.

The Roman talent for organization did not extend as willingly to institutional care of the sick and injured. However, infirmaries for sick slaves were established, and even free Romans sometimes used them. There were really no other places except the offices and perhaps homes of physicians where the ill and wounded could be domiciled, treated, and cared for.

My New Blog

In this blog there are my opinions and thoughts about various subjects.  This is an attempt to explore my own mind and the knowledge that I have gained throughout my life.  In this way I hope to keep sharing the information and experiences with mental disorders. There will be a broad spectrum of topics I hope you will enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.  bywena

Sacrificial Rites in Anceint Greece

Human sacrifice is the killing human beings as part of a religious ritual. It is in the relationship of the animal sacrifices and other forms of religious sacrifice.  Human sacrifice has been found in various cultures throughout history. The reasoning for the sacrifices was that was supposed to please or appease gods or spirits, or as a sacrifice when the King's servants are killed in order for them to continue to serve their master in the next life.

In modern times, sacrifice has virtually disappeared from all major religions.  Most religions censure the practice, and today’s laws treat it as murder, the term ritual murder is used.         

Ritualistic Sacrifice in Ancient Greek Mythology The ritual of sacrifice in Greek literature defined many aspects of their culture. Sacrifice was the basis of moral concern and an effective means of narratives in Greek tragedy. Sacrifice in Greek literature has a symbolic importance.  Both politics and religion were one and sacrifice regulated governmental issues and personal.

Sacrifice was the basis of the relationships between men and gods. The ritual sacrifice also classified the gods, and distinguished them from one another.

Sacrificial rites were the focus of many cultural festivals where different purposes were combined, initiation, purification and oath. Human blood rituals were performed before battle and at the burial rights of the dead.

Human sacrifices were not as prevalent as animal sacrifices although instances of human sacrifice did take place in Ancient Greece. Greek mythology depicted the current moral standards of society, thus creating the prominence of animal sacrifice in ritual.

The strength of a city in Greek literature was qualified by the blessings or vengeance inflicted by the gods. Discipline, in Ancient Greece, prevented chaos and disorder. Punishments by the gods were not set to any limits an unpleasant mood might provoke a decree of death.

Human and animal sacrifices differ; where human sacrifice was considered the ultimate rite of corruption, animal sacrifice characteristically was a festive occasion for the whole community. The actual sacrifice is considered to be an honorable rite; the violence involved is condoned. The gods derive get pleasure from these festivals. These sacrificial rites established relations between mortals and gods. The social order of Grecian life depended on sacrifice to in regulate governmental issues.

In today’s society sacrifices human or animal is considered barbaric and repulsive yet in some remote areas of the wor4ld it does still exist.  Life is considered sacred and the act of ritual; sacrifices are punishable by law.  The religious world condemns such practices agreeing with the laws of the state as being an act of murder.or the work of an unsound mind.

Cannibalism a History

Cannibalism in the past wascommon among humans in many parts of the world, it continued into the 19thcentury in some remote South Pacific cultures, and presently in partsof tropical Africa. In a few cases local flesh-markets existed. Fiji onceknown as the Cannibal Isles has been documented as being cannibals. Cannibalismwas found in Fiji, the Amazon Basin, the Congo and New Zealand.The Neanderthals are believed to have practiced cannibalism.

Cannibalism has been both carriedout in several wars, commonly in Liberia and Congo. Today, very fewtribes still believed to eat human flesh as a cultural practice. It isalso practiced as a ritual and in war in Melanesian tribes. People who eathuman flesh are usually charged with crimes such as murder or desecration of abody.

Cannibalism has been frequentlypracticed as a last resort by people suffering from famine. Occasionallyit has occurred in modern times. A famous example is the crash of an AirForce Flight crash after which some survivors ate the bodies of deadpassengers. Also, some mentally ill individuals obsess about eating human bodyparts.

The theme of cannibalism has beenfeatured in religion, mythology, fairy stories and in works of art. Cannibalismfeatures is most often attributed to evil characters or as extreme revenge forsome wrong.  Greek mythology involves cannibalism, especially offamily members, Cronos or Saturn in the Roman mythology devoured hissons. The story of Tantalus also illustrates this. These mythologiesinspired Shakespeare's works. 

Many instances of cannibalism bynecessity were recorded during World War II.  Reports of cannibalism began to appear in thewinter of 1941–1942, after all birds, rats and pets were eaten by survivors.  Withthe Soviet victory was found that some German soldiers in the besieged city,cut off from supplies, resorted to cannibalism.

German soldiers were taken prisonerof war. Most of them were sent to POW camps where being underfed by their captors,many had no other alternative resorted to cannibalism.

In some cases the flesh was cutfrom living people.

It is recorded that Japanese soldierskilled and consumed American pilots. Cannibalism in World War II of Allied prisonersby their Japanese captors included ritual cannibalization of the livers offreshly killed prisoners.

Cannibalism whether out of necessityor as a cultural ritual was and frequently found in all ages of the world.  The speculation of why does not make thispractice humane or acceptable to society. Cannibalism is now considered repulsive to most but exists even to thepresent time.

Mental Illness Through the Ages

In ancient Greek scholarswere of the opinion that mental diseases were caused by an imbalance in fourhumors of the body. The three humors which influenced mentaldisorders termed melancholia, mania and an acute mentaldisorder accompanied by fever. This was contrary to the supernatural or divineexplanations of illness. The belief that disease was the product ofenvironmental factors, diet and living habits, not as a punishment inflicted bythe gods, and that the  treatmentdepended on which bodily fluid, or humor, had caused the problem. Around427-347 BC the belief that there were twotypes of mental illness: divinely inspired mental illness that gave the personprophetic powers and a type that was caused by a physical disease. By 384 BC, thedivinely caused mental illness theory was abandoned and the proposal thatinstead all mental illness was caused by physical problems.

In ancient Greece and Rome,madness was associated the stereotype of pointless wandering and violence.

The Romans absorbedmany Greek ideas on medicine, as well as other cultures, through the conqueringof nations. The humor theory was discarded and scholars advocated humanetreatments, and had insane persons freed from confinement and treated them withnatural 

therapy, such as diet and massages. 

Playwrights described madmenas being driven insane by the Gods, imbalanced humors or circumstances. Mania wasoften used as a term for insanity; there were a variable range of terms fordelusion, eccentricity, frenzy, and lunacy. Some physicians argued thatinsanity is really present when a continuous dementia begins with imaginings.They suggested that people must heal their own souls through philosophy andpersonal strength. Common practices were bloodletting, drugs, talkingtherapy, incubation in temples, exorcism, incantations and amulets,as well as restraints and torture to restore rationality; starvation, beingterrified suddenly, agitation of the spirit, and stoning and beating.Most, of the mentally ill did not receive medical treatment but stayed with familyor wandered the street. The usual symptoms of delusions of the time includedpeople who thought them to be famous actors or speakers, animals, inanimateobjects, or one of the gods.

By the middle Ages, Persian and Arabicscholars were involved in translating, analyzing and Greek texts and beliefs.With the expansion of the Muslim world, these ideas were joined together withreligious thought. New ideas and concepts were developed over time. Arab texts containedwhole discussions of melancholia. Mania and other disorders includinghallucinations and delusions were also described. Mental disorder was thoughtto be caused by reason gone being lost, and diseases of the as well as to spiritualor mystical meaning. Fear and anxiety, anger and aggression, sadness anddepression, and obsessions were recorded.

Under Islam, the mentallydisordered were considered incapable but deserved humane treatment andprotection.  The first psychiatric hospital ward was created in Baghdad inand insane asylums were built in Fes, Cairo in and in Damascus around1270. Insane patients were compassionately treated using baths, drugs, musicand activities. For centuries to come, translations of many scientificIslamic texts, Canon of Medicine became the standard of medical science inEurope together with works of Hippocrates.

 European Christianity in the middle Ages inEurope the basis of mental illness were a mixture of the divine diabolical magical and transcendental.The four humors black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood were employed, somephysicians promoted trepanning as a cure to let demons and excess humorsescape. Other remedies in general use included bloodletting and whipping.Madness was often seen as a moral issue, either a punishment for sin or attest offaith. Christian theology supported various therapies, fasting and prayerfor those who turned away from God and exorcism of those possessed bythe devil. Mental disorders were thought to be due to sin although thebelief those other factors could be taken in consideration.  Mass dancingmania is reported from the middle Ages. This was one kind of massdelusion or mass hysteria that has occurred around the world through the millennia.

The care of lunatics was theresponsibility of the family. In England, if the family were unable or notwilling to take custody , representatives of the courts with a local jury andall interested persons, with the individual. Those considered lunatics had the support and involvement from thecommunity more often than those who have a mental illness today. Visionswere interpreted as meaningful spiritual and prophetic insights.

 During the 16th to 18th centuries somementally disturbed people may have been victims of the witch-hunts thatspread in early modern Europe, but those judged insane were admitted to workhouses, poorhousesand jails especially the paupers, some went to the new private madhouses. Restraintsand confinement were used for those thought dangerous or harmful to themselves,others or property.

Madness was commonly depicted inliterary works, such as the plays of Shakespeare

By the end of the 17th centuryand into the Enlightenment, madness was increasingly seen as an organic physicaloccurrence, not involving the soul or moral responsibility. The mentally ill wereviewed as wild animals. Restraint in chains was seen as helping contain the animalfuries. Treatment in the few public asylums was harsh, inferior only to prisons.The most well known is Bedlam where at one time spectators could payto watch the inmates as entertainment. Towards the end of the 18th century,a moral treatment movement developed, that implemented more humane,psychosocial and personalized methods.

The 19th century, with industrialization andpopulation growth, saw an expansion of the number and size of insane asylums.  However, very little therapeutic activityoccurred in the new asylum system, the little more there was seldom medical attentionto patients, except for other physical problems.

Reports of many mental disordersand irrational uncontrolled behavior are common in historical records back toancient times, some disorders; they were relatively rare prior to the 19^thcentury.

By the 1870s in North America,officials who ran Lunatic Asylums renamed them Insane Asylums.

The 20th century brought about psychoanalysis.

Asylum administers attempted toimprove the image of the asylums. Asylum inmates were referred to as patients andasylums renamed as hospitals. Referring to people as having a mental illnessbegan during this period of the early 20th century.

In Nazi Germany, theinstitutionalized mentally ill were the earliest victims of sterilization ithas been estimated that over 200,000 individuals with mental disorders of allkinds were put to death.

Funding was often cut forasylums, during periods of economic decline, and wartime and many patientsstarved to death. 

Previously restricted to thetreatment of severely disturbed people in asylums, psychiatrists cultivatedclients with a broader range of problems, and between 1917 and 1970 the numberpracticing outside institutions swelled from 8 percent to 66 percent. Theterm stress was become popular and was linked to mental disorders.

Lobotomies, insulin shock therapy,electro convulsive therapy became commonly used in the mid-century.

In the 1960s deinstitutionalization graduallyoccurred, with isolated psychiatric hospitals being closed down withthe advanced opening of community mental health service.

With the medical advances andnewer more effective medications there is still little improvement in thestigma and shame of having a mental disorder. The closure of many of the state hospitals have brought a about theproblem that has had little impact on the people with mental disorders.  Instead of learning from the past it seemsthat there is a revolving door of returning to the past.