From demonic possession to autoimmune attacks: the evolution of madness
In short: For millennia, humanity attributed erratic behavior to spirits, gods, or imbalances of bodily fluids. While we have moved toward biological and psychological models, modern medicine is finding that some long-term psychiatric conditions may actually be rooted in hidden autoimmune disorders.
The history of mental health is a transition between three primary frameworks: the supernatural, the biological, and the psychological. In ancient Mesopotamia, illnesses were viewed as "hands" of deities, where doctors assigned spiritual meanings to hallucinations—predicting death for those who saw dogs but recovery for those who saw gazelles. Similarly, ancient Chinese medicine (c. 1100 BC) often attributed mental illness to demonic possession, believing that trauma could open the Wei Chi to allow entities to enter the body.
The biological turn began with figures like Hippocrates, who identified syphilis as a disease and argued for physical causes of psychological disorders. This was later expanded by the humoral theory in Greece and Rome, which linked mental states to bodily fluids. While some Roman practitioners like Celsus advocated for healing the soul through philosophy, others used extreme measures like starvation or stoning. By the 9th century, the Islamic world established bimaristans—specialized hospitals with wards for the mentally ill—preserving and synthesizing Greek medical knowledge for centuries.
Today, the distinction between 'mental' and 'physical' is blurring in clinical settings. Recent research highlights anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, an autoimmune disorder that can mimic severe psychiatric syndromes. In a study of 14 patients with long-term histories of mental disorders (averaging over 9 years), researchers found that many exhibited sudden fluctuations in symptoms like speech impairment and catatonia. For these individuals, the 'mental' illness was actually a manifestation of an underlying immune system attack, showing that our understanding of the mind remains inextricably linked to the body.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: History of mental disorders
- Also: Clinical characteristics of anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis in patients with a long-term history of mental disorders.
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