A genetic event 550 million years ago appears to have set the stage for our mental illnesses today.
While diagnoses were recognized as far back as the Greeks, it was not until 1883 that German psychiatrist Emil Kräpelin (1856–1926) published a comprehensive system of psychological disorders that centered around a pattern of symptoms (i.e., syndrome) suggestive of an underlying physiological cause.
Mental illness itself comes from the interaction of multiple genes and other factors – such as stress, abuse, or a traumatic event – which can influence, or trigger, an illness in a person who has an inherited likeliness to have it.
The pressures of survival and reproduction were high. Because of that, evolutionary psychologists believe that early humans did experience mental health issues like depression and anxiety. However, humans today don't experience the same pressures that early people did.
The increase in mental health issues is most consistent between the 1930s and the early 1990s. There is little doubt that anxiety and depression increased between these decades.
Mental health conditions are increasing worldwide. Mainly because of demographic changes, there has been a 13% rise in mental health conditions and substance use disorders in the last decade (to 2017). Mental health conditions now cause 1 in 5 years lived with disability.
Mental Health Treatment Landscape in the 1700s
It was a common belief that the mentally ill were dangerous and should be kept away from society and hidden from their families and communities. Asylums became widespread during the 1700s. Such institutions were often inhumane, not to mention overcrowded and unclean.
Between classical antiquity and modem psychiatry, there was an interval of centuries when the concept of anxiety as an illness seems to have disappeared from written records. Patients with anxiety did exist, but they were diagnosed with other diagnostic terms.
A genetic event 550 million years ago appears to have set the stage for our mental illnesses today.
Mental illness in society
"The ancient Greeks first gave voice to the concept of stigma noting that those who were marked with mental illness were often shunned, locked up, or on rare occasions put to death." People with diseases that altered behavior were often shunned and feared by those around them.
Today, women are three times more likely than men to experience common mental health problems. In 1993, they were twice as likely. Rates of self-harm among young women have tripled since 1993. Women are more than three times as likely to experience eating disorders than men.
Part of the reason mental health is often ignored is because there is still a lot of stigma surrounding mental illness. For many people, mental illness is seen as a sign of weakness. There's a belief that if you can't “just snap out of it,” then there's something wrong with you. This couldn't be further from the truth.
Being exposed to a multitude of opinions (on TV and online) Being exposed to aggressive behavior (a dramatic rise in child abuse, adult abuse, sexual abuse, etc.) Poor/reduced sleep. Increased financial pressure on parents.
In early 19th century America, care for the mentally ill was almost non-existent: the afflicted were usually relegated to prisons, almshouses, or inadequate supervision by families. Treatment, if provided, paralleled other medical treatments of the time, including bloodletting and purgatives.
Exposing patients to baths or showers of warm water for an extended period of time often had a calming effect on them. For this reason, mental hospitals used hydrotherapy as a tool for treating mental illness.
During the Middle Ages, treatment for the mentally ill in Europe focussed on demonology. Abnormal behaviour was attributed to supernatural forces such as possession by the devil or the curses of witches and wizards. As treatment, exor- cism was used to drive out the evil (Coon, 1983, p. 501).
People who take their medications regularly and make some lifestyle changes can live long and healthy lives. These medications and lifestyle changes are treatments for diabetes. Mental illness is the same way. There's no cure for mental illness, but there are lots of effective treatments.
"This study suggests that schizophrenia is a modern development, one that emerged after humans diverged from Neanderthals," said John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry. "It suggests that early hominids did not have this disorder."
It is possible to recover from mental health problems, and many people do – especially after accessing support. Your symptoms may return from time to time, but when you've discovered which self-care techniques and treatments work best for you, you're more likely to feel confident in managing them.
In the 1960's, clinicians found that patients were younger, more neurotic, and less severely depressed than in earlier decades (Paykel et al., 1970; Rosenthal, 1966).
Why Is Anxiety So Common in America? What Changed? Unfortunately, no one seems to have an exact answer as to why anxiety is so common, but many attribute this presumed increase in anxiety disorders to factors such as social media, poor sleep habits, lowered stigma, and underreporting in the past.
The Victorian Era: Bored and Batty
The tension that built up from being trapped indoors without a job or anything to do led to many so-called unusual behaviors, including a popular form of crafting that involved making trinkets out of human hair. Anxiety was also one of these issues.
Using religious, psychological, astrological and traditional healing remedies, Napier treated them all using a wide range of treatments.. Responses to mental illness at this time included everything from listening and humane intervention to incarceration in a building or ill treatment.
Treatment of schizophrenia in the 1940s included insulin therapy – which was introduced by Sakel in Vienna in 1933, Metrazol (a convulsant) by Meduna in Budapest in 1934, prefrontal leucotomy by Moniz in Portugal in 1937 and electroconvulsive therapy by Cerletti and Bini in Italy in 1938.
Mental illness was recognised as something that might be cured or at least alleviated. It was no longer acceptable to keep poor mentally ill people in workhouses and prisons, so state provision of asylums became mandatory.