Thursday 24 November 2011

Hippocrates


Perhaps the one ancient Greek who contributed more to medicine, and mental health in particular, than any other was Hippocrates, who lived in the era of c. 460 B.C.E. to c. 370 B.C.E., and who has been called the “father of medicine” (Byers, 1998; Elliott, 1914; Hazel, 2002; Kelly, 2009; Keyser & Irby-Massey, 2008; Missios, 2007; Moulton, 1998; Nardo, 2006; Nutton, 2004). He is also credited with being the first physician to discount divine forces as causing illness (Elder, Evans & Nizette, 2005; Elliott, 1914; Hazel, 2002; Kelly, 2009; Millon, 2004; Nutton, 2004; Smith, 2006; Wootton, 2006). Hippocrates was said to have been inspired in his study of medicine by books kept at the temple of Imhotep in Memphis, Egypt (Pinch, 2002). The Hippocratic Oath, a seminal document on the ethics of medical practice, was attributed to Hippocrates (Elliott, 1914; Gregory, 1987; Jayne, 1962; Kelly, 2009; Keyser & Irby-Massey, 2008; Moulton, 1998; Nardo, 2006; Sacks, 2005; Thackery & Harris, 2003; Tischler, 2006). This is probably the most famous document of the Hippocratic Corpus, a series of around seventy treatises on medicine, attributed to Hippocrates, but probably written by his students (Albrecht, 2006; Bispham, Harrison & Sparkes, 2006; Elder, Evans & Nizette, 2005; Hazel, 2002; Kelly, 2009; Keyser & Irby-Massey, 2008; Missios, 2007; Moulton, 1998; Nardo, 2006; Nutton, 2004; Sacks, 2005; Smith, 2006; Wootton, 2006). While the Oath is rarely used in its original form today, it serves as a foundation for other, similar oaths and laws that define good medical practice and morals, although it is no longer a requirement (Greek Medicine, n.d.).


The Hippocratic Oath in the original Greek

Among the Hippocratic Corpus are descriptions of illnesses that correspond to the modern diagnoses of depression (melancholia) (Bucknill & Tuke, 1858; Smith, 2006; Taylor & Fink, 2006), postpartum psychosis (Williams, 2005), mania (Bucknill & Tuke, 1858; Maneros & Goodwin, 2005; Smith, 2006), phobia (Elder, Evans & Nizette, 2005; MacKay, 2009), paranoia (Freeman & Freeman, 2008; Smith, 2006), pseudocyesis or false pregnancy (Davidson, 2009; Thackery & Harris, 2003), epilepsy (Engel & Pedley, 2008; Keyser & Irby-Massey, 2008; Moulton, 1998; Smith, 2006; Stone, 2006; Tuke, 1892), which Hippocrates called The Sacred Disease, and transvestism, which he called the “Scythian disease” (Mendelson, 2003). He also described delirium due to high bodily temperature or fevers, a condition he called “phrenitis” (Krafft-Ebbing, 1903; Regis, 1894; Torrey & Miller, 2002) and hysteria, which could only be found in women as it was due to a “wandering womb” (Colp, 2000; Gregory, 1987; Merkel, 2003; Millon, 2004). A diagnosis of paranoia in these times could be grounds for declaring the patient incompetent and for having a guardian appointed (Stone, 2006). Hippocrates also appears to be one of the first writers to mention the harmful effect of the moon on mental stability (Porter, n.d.), a notion that led to the later label of lunacy, derived from the Latin word for moon, “luna”. This notion continued until the advent of modern psychiatry, and still exists at a popular level (Simpson & Roud, 2000). According to Evans & Farberow (2003), Hippocrates condemned suicide and averred that he would never assist a patient to end his own life.

Perhaps Hippocrates’ most notable contribution, and a theory that held sway in Europe until the advent of “modern science” in the 17th century, is that of humorism (Albrecht, 2006; Bispham, Harrison & Sparkes, 2006; Bucknill & Tuke, 1858; Bugh, 2007; Bujalkova, Straka & Jureckova, 2001; Colp, 2000: Cook, 2006; Elder, Evans & Nizette, 2005: Elliott, 1914; Gregory, 1987; Hinshaw, 2007; Horowitz, 2005; Jacoby, 1918; Kelly, 2009; Kent, 2003; Keyser & Irby-Massey, 2008; Krafft-Ebbing, 1903; Levinson & Gaccione, 1997; Merenda, 1987; Millon, 2004; Moulton, 1998; Noll, 2007; Nutton, 2004; Porter, 2002; Rezneck, 1991; Sacks, 2005; Smith, 2006; Stone, 1997; Szasz, 2005; Thackery & Harris, 2003; White, 2006; Wootton, 2006).


Hippocrates

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