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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 4 page paper examines the rise of psychiatry as a field of study based on the writing of Roy Porter and Robert Fancher. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
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4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_MBrporter.rtf
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mad individuals might be cured or helped. Roy Porter in his book, Madness, offers a thought-provoking look at the rise of psychiatry as THE position of authority in caring for
the mentally ill in modern society. Ancient civilizations viewed certain deviations from the norm in various ways, Porter offers. Some viewed such mental maladies as messages from the gods and
often viewed those who suffered from mental illness as specially gifted seers and healers. Until the Middle Ages most early Americans believed that evil spirits inhabited the body
of the mentally ill. As such, then, the main focus of ridding a persons body of the ailment was to drive out the demons. This treatment applied to both adults
and children. Some of the treatments included chaining, batting, starving, or bleeding the patient(Porter 2002). The new thinking to come after this challenged the demonic explanations for insanity and emphasized
the role of environment in determining character: improper external conditions could induce derangement. The "moral treatment" system was optimistic that an appropriate environment could facilitate cure, especially for those with
acute (not chronic) afflictions. Therefore, most families with mentally ill children simply took care of them as best they could until the American Revolution occurred(Porter 2002). According to Dr. Grob,
this resulted in many children being locked away in attics or cellars, as these conditions were viewed primarily as social and economic embarrassments, rather than medical conditions. If children were
abandoned and taken in by the church or local government, then they were immediately sent to almshouses(Porter 2002). After the Civil
War, the idea that a moral treatment was determined to be a failure. This was because the champions of the humane treatment of the mentally ill had been so grossly
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