The Forgotten Mental Illnesses In The Medical Industries

The development of the medicine has brought us an easier approaching method to recognize and label diseases with similar symptoms. Not only does it help the future physicians to be aware of what actions they might have to cure the patients based on their health conditions, but it also reminds us of some diseases’ conclusions in the past turning out to be wrong. Let’s take a look of the strange history of some mental illnesses which have been discarded for such a long time due to the risk of causing death.

Nostalgia - a lethal homesickness

In 19th century, a French physician wrote a book which mentioned the death caused by a disease called Nostalgia when he had to suffer the extreme depression of leaving his beloved house.

The term “Nostalgia” used to be considered as a fatal disease as it caused a lot of pain for people who missed their familiar beds, carved for the dishes their mothers cooked so much, or for soldiers who joined the army to protect their country and felt isolated in that place.

Therefore, despite the fact that outdoor conditions haven’t been considered as an agent causing death, it might worth calling your family when you stay far from them, as they miss you, and surely so do you.

Hysteria- an uncontrolled emotional excess

The history of the disease named Hysteria could be traced back to ancient times. It was considered a mental disorder appeared only in the female bodies and could be recognized through some symptoms including faint, nervousness, the uncontrolled explosion of emotions or the illusion,...

They believed that the free-floating womb inside the bodies caused the problem when they wandered to stay in any unexpected places or approached near any organs.

The physicians gave advice on the methods to cure either by getting pregnant soon, wheedling them with nice smelling herbs, or a suspected method named “hysterical paroxysms” (which was more well-known in ancient times in Greece).

Neurasthenia - a serious nervous debility and exhaustion

Neurasthenia was popularly known in the 19th century when many patients was diagnosed with the same symptoms including fatigue, anxiety, overtiredness, exasperation or emotional burnout,..,

A common treatment applied was to take a rest, probably giving yourself an outdoor picnic, or relaxing by your own in a room with empty mind, or even taking some psychological treatment,...

People used to assign this exhaustion of their nervous system for the busy and stressful modern life. However, some people took advantage of these reasons to explain for their absence of work or study or even escape of current life. This disease was then eliminated from the medical book and no longer considered as a nervous disorder.

Drapetomania - a crazily desire of getting freedom

Until the middle of 19th century, why the slaves craved for escaping still remained as an awkward questions to many medical practitioners. Then an American physician named Samuel Cartwright brought out a hypothesis that this might be the form of a mental illness, Drapetomania, whose Greek root could be understood as “runaway slaves”.

And as a result, no matter whether the slaves could succeed in fleeing or not, they could not avoid the cruel abusement from the owners, they could be called either warning signs or punishment.

Chlorosis - an abnormal green sickness of human beings

It was known as the disease of young women or languid girls, popular in the 17th century with some featured symptoms such as a yellowish or pale face skin, a migraine or much pain in the head, a lack or suppression of menstruation,...

Many researches have been done to find out the causes of this disease, and it was mainly because of the unhygienic lifestyle. However, there was also another element which might bring these symptoms to our body, it was called emotions. When young ladies got much disappointment in love, they didn’t want to be in relationship with men or followed the celibacy, which led to a fact of not being pregnant in the best ages for pregnancy. Then, the disaster might happen.

We could not deny that the treatments for above diseases could somehow release the sufferings of the patients who got mental disorders. However, along with the development of human beings in awareness and knowledge, the physicians are forced to recognize their mistakes in the past and keep thinking of how to cure people based on their actual health conditions.