PSYC 3406 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Johann Weyer, Dorothea Dix, Demonic Possession

• School: Northeastern University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 3406
• Professor: Ann Blumer

Document Summary

There have been many ideas throughout history about what causes abnormal behavior: in turn, there have been many different ideas about the treatment of mental illness, theories on causation lead to different theories of treatment. Spiritual: person is possessed by an evil spirit or has sinned etc. Humanitarian: result of cruelty, stress, poor living conditions. Scienti c views: the search for causes that can be measured i. e. biological causes. Many early societies believed that abnormal behavior was due to demonic possession or sorcery: treatment: trephination (drilling holes in the head to release spirits) If you believed in demonic possession, how would you treat it: physical mistreatment, exorcisms, prayer etc. New ideas; ex hippocrates believed and taught that illnesses had natural causes- an unbalance of four bodily uids (aka humor) black and yellow bile, phlegm and blood: rebalance humors via diet, bleeding & changing lifestyle. Demonological views decline alongside the decline of the church-care improved.