Search: All words Any word

You are in: main> General Description History

Prehistoric times - 1900

People living in prehistoric periods believed that schizophrenia was caused by evil spirits inside the body. They might also believe that drilling a hole into the person's skull would release the evil spirits, thereby curing them.

About 400 B.C., the Greek physician Hippocrates stated that mental disorders were caused by an imbalance of four body fluids: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile.

During the Medieval times, especially the Reformation, a belief in witchcraft and a wide persecution of witches spread throughout western Europe. People with mental illness were often considered as witches and were burned. Many mentally ill people were also incarcerated.

Humane treatment of mentally ill people emerged in the late eighteenth century when Philippe Pinel, a French physician strove to ameliorate the conditions of mental institutions in France. Many mental hospitals began to introduce treatment programs that included fresh air.

In 1883, Emil Kraepelin, a German psychiatrist, worked out a systematic diagnosis and classification of schizophrenia. He also accounted causes of schizophrenia to abnormalities in the brains of schizophrenics.

1900 - Present

In the dawn of the twentieth century, the famous Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud proposed a theory that forces in the unconscious mind greatly affect an individual's personality and behavior. This theory, along with his other theories, became the basis for psychoanalysis.

During the 1950's, the advent of effectual medical treatments led to a gradual reduction in the number of schizophrenic patients hospitalized. However, many communities lacked enough facilities to help mentally ill people live independently.

In 1963, the Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act was approved. It offered funding for the development of community mental health centers throughout the United States. The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill was established in 1979.

During last two decades, many scientists began to study the living brain of schizophrenic patients with a variety of new techniques, including positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Using these technologies, scientists have found that schizophrenia entail problems in the development and physical and chemical activities of the brain.