Mental Illness

In Roy Porter’s Mental Illness, he examines the complexity that lies within mental illness. This complexity has grown over history, because as time passes, mental illness is defined differently by different eras and a variety of experts. The multiple takes on mental illness leaves us with a confusing and unsure ability to interpret what it means to suffer from mental illness.

Porter begins with the Greeks. He says they are the ones where “madness first became an3 object of rational inquiry and literary depiction (238).” We can see this by examining Greek mythological pieces that were written such as the Illiad and Oedipus. There were two traditions present to help present an understanding for this madness: culture and medical. The cultural tradition came from the numerous pieces of rhetoric, art, and theatre. It is in these arts where madness became a condition and fate of minds divided. As far as medical traditions, Hippocrates believed mental illness is a normal body ailment like all others, produced by failures in body functions. From a scientific stand point, mental illness was no predicament, but instead, mental illness was a disease.

This leads into the times of the Renaissance. It is here where “mania arises from stinging and warm humours… attacking the brain and stimulating it along with its membranes (243).” Also introduced in these times is the religious sect of mental illness and how to deal with it. Religious sects thought this madness came from a dispute between God and Satan. This was considered a diabolical contagion.

Succeeding the Renaissance times came the Age of Reason. Here we see a severe shift in the view on madness. This era seemed to have Aristole and his followers as the target of their theories. Neurosis came to “mean a mild, non-specific anxiety state (244),” making it more distinct from psychosis. A shift became very visible in the religious aspect of defining and treating madness. Witchcraft became more of a delusion instead of an attack from Satan, leaving it in itself to be coined as mental illness. The differing opinions between religion and society, led to harsh criticism.

Porter then shifts from the historical aspect of mental illness, to what was done to treat the mentally ill. In early times, mental illness was said to be treated by immediate family members. It was these family members who had full responsibility of containing and treating the mentally ill. Over time, institutions became more popular. The first institutions came under religion in the fifteenth-century. The confinement of the mentally ill led to some arguments from those of differing opinions. Focoult believed treatment of the mentally ill was a “degradation of the status of madness (247).” Eventually different acts and laws were put into effect enforcing the though of institutions, but again with every law comes those who oppose. Some thought that these institutions would allow the mentally ill to restore them.

These institutions went from fault to institutions with goals and ideals. An establishment made by a medical professional was now to examine and diagnose the individual before placed into an asylum. The examination was to be monitored by magistrates to ensure the validity of the diagnosis. With the implementation of strictness on the institutions also came the ability to prosecute and withdraw licenses from any medical professionals who abused the system.

In the latter part of the nineteenth century cure rates saw a significant dip. With this dip in cure rates, “psychiatrists had become victims of their own opinion (254).” This partially came from the thought that the asylums did not improve the mentally ill as it was thought to be. Asylums became thought of as the problem instead of the solution, and again, we see refutes that believed that the problem lay within the patient, not the asylum.

All the disagreements to what was once thought to be true seem to confuse us even more. Mental illness seems to confuse those who have become to study it throughout time. Each progression in treatment of mental illness just seemed to lead to another problem that was to be solved. With all this, we are brought back to square one, what is mental illness, what causes it, and how do we treat it?