Question

dentify historical beliefs about the sources of mental illness (along with their proposed

treatments), including: wandering uterus, humorism, supernatural and religious causes

in the middle ages and during the witch hunts



Identify important shifts in mental health care, such as the care provided at from St.

Mary’s of Bethlehem vs. the care provided in the Paris asylum (Pinel) and in the York

Retreat (Tuke)

Answer 1

Several beliefs emerged during the Middle Ages to explain and identify the source mental illness. The wandering uterus hypothesis was the belief that a displaced uterus was the cause of many medical pathologies in women, particularly hysteria. This was because the uterus was com to wander around the body like an animal, hungry for semen. Another theory called humorism, also emerged, which was a system of medicine detailing the makeup and workings of the human body. It held that an excess or deficiency of any of four distinct bodily fluids, known as humors, directly influences their temperament and causes mental illness. The humors we're identified to be black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm. There was also the emergence of supernatural and religious theories. These attributed mental illness to possession by evil or demonic spirits, displeasure of gods, eclipses, planetary gravitation, curses, and sins.
Please post the other questions separately as we are supposed to answer just one question or four sub parts of the same question.