History of mental illness: Encyclopedia II - History of mental illness - Monotheism and Mental Health

History of mental illness - Monotheism and Mental Health

The next major developments in the history of mental health and illness came in a wave of new ideas about the self that occurred in the 6th century BC: The founding of Islam as well as the revitalization of Judaism during the Babylonian exile. Both of these world religions were to play a major role in our modern conception of mental health.

History of mental illness - Ancient Judaism

The origins of monotheism lie in the growth and survival of Judaism in the history of ancient Israel and Judah. The concept of a single God as articulated in Judaism paved the way for a shift in views on mental health. While still almost completely religious in nature, the adoption of monotheism allowed for the idea that mental illness was not a problem like any other, caused by one of the gods, but rather caused by problems in the relationship between the individual and God, in some sense (to put it in modern terms) self-conflict or repressed guilt. Although the origin of the Israelite tribes have been dated to the late 2nd millennium BC, the major period of growth for Judaism occurred in the 6th century BC, when the Kingdom of Judah was conquered by Babylon and exiled to the Babylonian kingdom. On the waters of the Euphrates, the rabbis of the remaining tribes formulated for the first time a cohesive Jewish identity and doctrine, revitalizing monotheism in the face of ideological opposition. The new, regenerated Judaism viewed mental illness as an expression of sin (represented in archaic Judaism as possession by demons), and to the ancient rabbis an understanding of the self was critical to a relationship with God. Treatment for mental illness ranged from prayer and fasting to self-flagellation. To the Hebrews, mental health (spiritual health), was the key to righteousness and to God. By formulating this new concept of a monotheistic, and in many ways, personal deity, the ancient Hebrews moved the idea of mental health away from mysticism and into organized religion.

History of mental illness - Ancient Islam

More than a thousand years later, Islam was beginning to spread across the Arabian Peninsula and into Asia and Africa. Like Judaism, Islam stressed the need for individual understanding of their mental situation. Those afflicted with a mental illness were thought to be possessed by jinn, supernatural spirits that can be either good or bad. The Qur'an mentions the idea of the spirit or soul constantly, preaching the idea that only though radical change of one’s conception of the universe can one move closer to God. Unlike the Jewish conception of mental illness as sin, the Islamic viewpoint interpreted mental illness as a sign of supernatural intervention that was not necessarily malignant. Changes in the psyche could be either good or bad – the Sufi movement of Islam, for instance, teaches spirituality though near-mysticism, using song, dance, and narcotics to induce an altered mental state and a closer connection of God. This new attitude towards the mind, freeing mental illness from implications of wrongdoing, paved the way for a more scientific examination of the causes and symptoms of mental illness. The first such advances were made by Islamic scholars. The Arab physician Rhazes wrote the landmark texts El-Mansuri and Al-Hawi in the 10th century, two which presented definitions, symptoms, and treatments for illness, including mental illnesses, and also ran the psychiatric ward of a Baghdad hospital. Such institutions could not exist in Europe at the time because of fear of demonic possessions. In the centuries to come, Islam would eventually serve as a critical waystation of knowledge from Classical Greece to Renaissance Europe – however, at this point in history their time had not yet come, and conquest was a higher priority to Islamic society of the period than medicine.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Monotheism and Mental Health", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki