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 Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:44 am
Hiya
I do alot of research on Ancient Egypt but it struck me one night when I realised that nothing has ever been mentioned on mental illnesses.
How did they treat people who were insane? Did they exclude them from society or try to treat them (if so I imagine it was spiritually).
This would be interesting to know xd
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Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:57 pm
I don't know what all attitudes were common, but I'm pretty sure that they did perform brain surgeries, rather along the lines of a lobotomy, or drilling into the head, which people did survive. Sometimes.
I can't find any of my sources on the subject, but that's what I remeber.
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Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 9:25 pm
Alright, after doing more research on the subject, I found that yes, brain surgery was effected, and Egyptian medicine was pretty advanced for the time. The only source on actual mental illness was wikipedia, which mentioned a temple/hospital for the mentally ill and a psychiatric writing. It claims most mental illness was indeed believed spiritual, and noted various methods of psychological treatment, from drugs to dream interpretations. here are the sites I found: Wikipedia--History of Mental IllnessMinnesota State University--Egyptian SurgeryBrain Surgery.com--Historynot too much, but it doesn't seem to be a widely studied topic. Thanks for bringing it up, it was fun to research. ^_^
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Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 2:26 am
Metallic Rosae Alright, after doing more research on the subject, I found that yes, brain surgery was effected, and Egyptian medicine was pretty advanced for the time. The only source on actual mental illness was wikipedia, which mentioned a temple/hospital for the mentally ill and a psychiatric writing. It claims most mental illness was indeed believed spiritual, and noted various methods of psychological treatment, from drugs to dream interpretations. here are the sites I found: Wikipedia--History of Mental IllnessMinnesota State University--Egyptian SurgeryBrain Surgery.com--Historynot too much, but it doesn't seem to be a widely studied topic. Thanks for bringing it up, it was fun to research. ^_^ Thanks for the links! They were very useful whee
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Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 3:24 pm
One of the last books I read on Ancient Egypt mentioned how Akhenaten must have suffered from mental illness. Is this a common theory? I really don't know since I haven't done a whole lot of research into the Aten cult and the reign of Amenhotep IV.
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Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 7:00 pm
I heard that too. I also read somewhere that mental illnesses were rampant in the royal families.
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Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 8:05 pm
I wonder what kind of sickness was most common back then. And which they knew how to cure if only temporary...?
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 10:30 pm
It never ever occured to me that they had mental illnesses (some things just don't occur to me. Like if I were talking to you and you brought up your parents, it would have never occured to me that you had parents, when it's pretty obvious you do). I always thought that the culture was sane and they were free from that.
I learned something today. 3nodding
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 11:30 pm
Spirit Archer It never ever occured to me that they had mental illnesses (some things just don't occur to me. Like if I were talking to you and you brought up your parents, it would have never occured to me that you had parents, when it's pretty obvious you do). I always thought that the culture was sane and they were free from that.
I learned something today. 3nodding I think no matter where you go in time there will be insane people. Alot of people from the French Revolution were mentally ill (so Historians and Psychologists say) so I would assume some people in Ancient Egypt were. Whether if it was depression, OCD (not sure about this one) and other, more serious, cases of mental illness.
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 11:44 am
The Phantomette I heard that too. I also read somewhere that mental illnesses were rampant in the royal families. Considering that inbreeding was common, especially among nobles, I'd expect there would be some...ah...unwanted consequences. Mental illness would just be one of them.
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 2:20 pm
I've heard it suggested that Akhenaten may have suffered a few mental disorders due to all the time he spent standing out in the direct sunlight communing with the Aten (read: baking his brain). Then again, that sounds like an egyptologist's sense of humor, so we probably shouldn't take it too seriously. wink
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 4:00 pm
Tsuki no Mugen One of the last books I read on Ancient Egypt mentioned how Akhenaten must have suffered from mental illness. Is this a common theory? I really don't know since I haven't done a whole lot of research into the Aten cult and the reign of Amenhotep IV. Some people might be biased because he practacly ruined Egyptian religion, so that might just be a nasty rumor meant to make him seem worse. But, drugs were also common back then, so a lot of mental illnesses might have just been temporary highs. He might have just been on drugs a lot.
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2007 8:13 pm
Kem Pet Unsu Some people might be biased because he practacly ruined Egyptian religion, so that might just be a nasty rumor meant to make him seem worse. Yeah, there is a lot of that. Sometimes I almost feel sorry for the guy- I mean, he was a terrible king don't get me wrong. But he wasn't really prepared for the kingship, either. He was trained as a priest, and he never figured out how to make the transition between priest/loyal-to-the-god-of-the-temple and king/servant-of- all-the-gods-and-men. He'd probably have done alright if they'd left him in the temple he'd been serving before his brother was killed. But as it is, people still hate him- I know folks who even refuse to speak or write his name!
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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 1:45 am
Nevira Shadowfire The Phantomette I heard that too. I also read somewhere that mental illnesses were rampant in the royal families. Considering that inbreeding was common, especially among nobles, I'd expect there would be some...ah...unwanted consequences. Mental illness would just be one of them. Sad, but true. When incest gets involved, the genetic chain starts to break down and all sortsa nasty things get thrown in. Like being wall-eyed for one. Mental retardation and the possibility of a trisomy in Chromosome 21 (more commonly refered to as Down's Syndrome) are also very high. It's no surprise that the royal family suffered this way.
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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 7:10 am
Hellenistic Wisdom Nevira Shadowfire The Phantomette I heard that too. I also read somewhere that mental illnesses were rampant in the royal families. Considering that inbreeding was common, especially among nobles, I'd expect there would be some...ah...unwanted consequences. Mental illness would just be one of them. Sad, but true. When incest gets involved, the genetic chain starts to break down and all sortsa nasty things get thrown in. Like being wall-eyed for one. Mental retardation and the possibility of a trisomy in Chromosome 21 (more commonly refered to as Down's Syndrome) are also very high. It's no surprise that the royal family suffered this way. Yeah. And it's not only the Egyptian royal family that winds up getting screwed over by inbreeding. Check out the Hapsburgs when they had the British crown during the 1800s. I don't remember which one, but one of them was still breastfeeding when he was 16. It's so sad it's scary.
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