The History of Abnormal Psychology
Ancient people regarded mentally-ill people as 
being possessed by evil spirits, and apparently
used “trephining”, piercing a hole in the skull of
the afflicted person, in an attempt to “release”
these spirits.
Later, in ancient Greece, Hippocrates viewed 
abnormality as the result of imbalance among 4
fluids, or biles, in the body. Excess in one of the
biles caused the person to display some particular
behaviors.
Trephining
Picture shows a skull with a whole pierced into it, 
to "release evil spirits, done in ancient times
History (cont-d)
In the Middle Ages, the belief that abnormal behavior 
is caused by demonic possession was reflected in the
“treatments” given to the mentally ill, these
“treatments” were administered by the religious
authorities, and included all types of procedures to
purge the afflicted person of the demons.
Burning “Witches” at the Stake
The mentally- ill seen as possessed by the devil. 
This picture shows a woman tied up on a ladder and 
about to be burnt alive
History of Abnormal Psychology (cont-d)
Around the 15th century, asylums were established 
throughout Europe to house the mentally ill, but
they became huge warehouses of human misery.
In England, for example, people paid money to 
enter the hospital St. Mary of Bethlehem to watch
the poor mental patients, who were chained and
lived in terrible conditions. The word “bedlam” is a
distortion of the name of the hospital
St. Mary of Bethlehem In London the 18th
century
This picture shows people standing in line to view 
the mental patients
The view inside the mental hospital
This picture shows people that seem to be in pain
lying on the floor, surrounded by elegant people
Early Treatment of the Mentally Ill
Enlightened” reform 
Phillipe Pinel (1745-1826) in France 
Reduced level of restraint
Introduced “moral treatment”
Improved nutrition and care
Behavior management
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William Tuke (1732-1822) in England 
Similar moral treatment strategy in farm setting
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Benjamin Rush (1745-1813) 
Medical model
bloodletting
The “tranquilizer chair”
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The Tranquilizing Chair
This picture shows a person confined in a chair with his
eyes covered
Pioneers
A reform Movement started in Europe and the US in 
the 1700’s Chiarugi, Pinel, Tuke, Rush, and Dorothea
Dix are some of the names associated with this
movement- who advocated humane treatment of the
mentally ill.
The 19th Century Asylum Movement
Picture shows a floor-plan of asylum
The asylum movement 
Improvement through architecture 
the Kirkbride model
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Asylums (cont-d)
This is a picture of a woman, Dorothea Dix
Reforming asylums 
Dorothea Dix (1802-1887) 
Method  toured places where mentally were housed and exposed poor
care, neglect, and abuse
Over time, resulted in creation of 47 mental hospitals
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Clifford Beers (1876-1943) 
Wrote of asylum conditions after experiencing them
The Mind That Found Itself (1908)
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Started mental hygiene movement
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Late 19th Century Developments
The Somatic Model
Main models at the beginning of modern times (end 
of 19th century): The Somatic model, started with the
work of Greisinger and Kraepelin, who saw mental
disorders as disorders of the brain. Somatic (body)
treatments such as psychosurgery and electroconvulsive therapy were used and abused as treatment
methods for those institutionalized.
The Somatic Model
Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926) 
Medical degree, but also studied with Wundt 
Developed a classification scheme for mental illness – nine 
editions
Sixth edition most famous (1899) 
13 categories, the two most serious being 
Manic-depressive psychosis 
Dementia praecox 
Dementia praecox 
First identification of the disorder, later called schizophrenia 
Attentional model (Wundtian influence) 
Apperceptive failure 
Mesmerism and Hypnosis
Franz Anton Mesmer, whose name was the basis 
of the verb “to mesmerize”, was a German doctor
who practiced in Vienna and Paris. His work was a
further reflection of the idea that the mind and the
body are related, and that the mind affects the
body. Though his theory of “animal magnetism”
has been long discredited, his work is important
because of its historical relevance.
Mesmer- beginning of the psychological model
for explaining mental illness
Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) 
Theory  animal magnetism 
Poor health resulted from misaligned magnetic forces
Cure was to realign forces
Under his influence  trance, then recovery and relief
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First Vienna, then Paris 
Baquet  group therapy
Franklin Commission  some effectiveness, but based on suggestion,
not magnetism
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In England 
Demonstrated effects on pain reduction (amputations) 
Renamed by Braid  neurypnology (sleep of the nervous system) 
Picture shows a man (Mesmer) standing and gesturing
his hand in front of a woman sitting on a chair
Mesmer (cont-d)
Mesmer abandoned the “technique” of letting the 
patient drink iron solution, and switched to a tub
filled with “magnetized” water
Patients were sitting around the tub, holding to a 
metal rod attached to the tub, while Mesmer
walked around with a metal wand touched each
patient with the wand, and encourage people to
have an “emotional crisis”, including sobbing and
screaming
Relevance of Mesmer to the History of
Psychology
The fact that some of Mesmer’s patients reported 
symptoms relief is interpreted today as the impact
of suggestibility
Mesmer showed that the mind affects the body 
both in terms of the origin of the seemingly
“physical” symptoms, and in terms of the nonphysical techniques that brought symptoms relief .
In this sense Mesmer can be regarded as the
forerunner of the Freudian’s ideas and strategies,
presented in Freud’s and Breuer’s seminal book:
Studies in Hysteria.
Cont-d
Hypnosis was in a sense based on Mesmerism, 
because it developed, primarily in England, in the
attempt to explain the impact of Mesmer’s
techniques on the patient
Hypnosis was originally conceived by the 
Frenchmen Liebeault and Berenheim as a sleeplike state between sleep and wakefulness
Charcot, whose work later influenced Freud, saw 
hypnosis as an expression of a deep-seated
neurological disorder.
Mesmer “treats” a woman
this picture shows a room full of men who are sitting and
watching a man (Mesmer) holding in his arms a woman that
appears to be fainting
Hypnosis
Charcot and Janet suggested that psychological 
dysfunction can be treated via hypnosis using verbal
suggestions
They also postulated that the human mind has a 
conscious component and an unconscious component
Later, Freud saw hypnosis as providing access to the 
unconscious mind, suggesting that the barrier to the
unconscious weakens during hypnosis
Hypnosis Today
A recent theory of hypnosis with a psychoanalytic 
flavor is the neodissociation theory, which
suggests that deeply hypnotized people experience
and division of their conscious mind. Part of it
enters a type of “altered” state, but remains aware
of what is going on during the session. The second
part is said to act as a “hidden observer”,
monitoring the situation. The hypnotized part is
unaware of the observer part.
Hypnosis’ relevance o the history of psychology
The early studies of hypnosis are important to the 
history of psychology because this was one of the
factors that brought Freud to promote the concepts of
the unconscious mind and of the mechanism of
repression, through which painful information is
removed from conscious awareness.
The Deinstitutionalization Movement
With the advent of the anti-psychotic 
(psychotropic) drugs in the late1950’s, a belief that
these drugs will cure mental illness brought about
the movement toward empting the big mental
hospitals, and sending the mental patients into the
community, where, as it was hoped, they could
function in semi-independent environments. The
hope did not materialized, and many mental
patients found themselves on the streets.
Late 19th Century Development
The Psychological Model
The psychological model, viewing mental 
disorders as a product of the mind started with the
interest in hypnosis, culminating with the work of
Freud.
The main contention of this model was that 
mental disorders are caused by unconscious
factors. Psychoanalysis had emerged as an attempt
to understand a condition that got the name
Hysteria
Charcot has shown that he could create and 
eliminate “hysterical” symptoms under hypnosis
Freud and Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was a neurologist in Vienna 
practicing with hypnosis to treat patients who suffered
from hysteria: a disorder in which the patient displays a
variety of physical symptoms without having any organic
basis for them. He found that under hypnosis his patients
uncovered early childhood memories, typically dealing
with unpleasant events of sexual nature. He later used the
technique of free associations instead of hypnosis. When
his patients talked about their early memories their
symptoms have subsided.
There was no way to confirm the validity of these early 
memories.
Anna 0: Freud’s First Case (together with Joseph Breuer)
and the Basis for Many of his Ideas
Anna O. displayed a range of physical symptoms, for which 
no physical cause had been identified
When Freud and Breuer's engaged Anna O. in the 
discussion of her symptoms, as well as her childhood
memories, she reported feeling better and her symptoms
gradually subsided
Talking about problems, resulting in an improvement was 
described as “catharsis”- a term taken from the ancient
Greek theater, when people came to watch the tragedies,
cried and expressed other negative emotions, and in this
way reached catharsis- which means cleansing.
Anna O (Bertha Peppenheim)
Became a famous social worker
This is a picture of an elegant woman standing, wearing a hat and
holding a cane. This is Anna O.