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PSYCHIATRIC NURSING
LECTURE
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHIATRIC NURSING
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
PREHISTORIC TIMES
In the prehistoric times, mentally ill persons were treated
by tribal rites. If this failed, they were left alone to die of
starvation or to be attacked by wild animals.
HIPPOCRATES II (400 BC)
● Father of Medicine
● World’s First Physician
GREEK AND ROMAN ERA
❑ Their temples were used to house mentally ill persons
that have fresh air, pure water, and sunlight.
❑ Sometimes they were treated with kindness, while at
times treatment was harsh and barbaric. They were
treated by bleeding and purging.
MIDDLE AGES
❑ The treatment of the mentally ill was left to the priests,
the superstitious beliefs flourished.
❑ They were flogged, fettered scourged and starved in the
belief that the devils that possessed them could be
driven out.
SIXTEENTH CENTURY
❑ The mentally ill were locked up in jails, dungeons, or
lunatic asylum where the curious could pay to watch
the “performance” of the sick inmates.
❑ The harmless inmates were forced to seek charity on
the streets as beggars.
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
❑ God and Satan were still thought to be engaged in a
battle for the possession of one’s soul.
❑ The dungeons were the only place where violent
mentally ill person could be committed.
❑ Purging and bleeding was the favorite therapeutic
procedures done.
❑ The whip was religiously applied by the cell keepers.
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
❑ In 1792, Frenchman Philippe Pinel was instrumental
in proving the error of treating mentally ill persons
inhumanely.
❑ Benjamin Rush, the “Father of American Psychiatry,”
began working in 1783. He believed that the phases of
the moon influenced the person’s behavior which he
called “the lunar theory of insanity.” Although
mentally ill patients were relegated to the cellar, they
were assured clean beddings and warm rooms.
NINETEENTH CENTURY
❑ The most shocking thing to people of today was placing
the poor and the mildly demented on the auction block,
where those with the strongest back and the weakest
mind were sold to the highest bidder.
❑ The returns of the sale are being kept in the town’s
treasury. Dorothea Dix, a teacher raised money to
build suitable hospital for mentally ill persons. The
institution was designed to provide a homelike
environment that would also be safe. And because of
the remoteness of the setting the institution had to
produce its own food, heat, and other necessities.
❑ Patients were able to work on the farm, in the kitchen,
laundry, machine shop, on the grounds or wards. For
some patients, this responsibility proved therapeutic
because it provided meaningful activity, which
increased their sense of self-esteem and group
cohesiveness.
❑ Having no contact with the outside world, the patient
adapted to their surroundings and their roles in the
hospital to the extent that they resisted returning to
their homes.
TWENTIETH CENTURY
❑ Overt change in the hospital system of mental health
care began. The government believed that it was
necessary to acquire more knowledge concerning the
cause, prevention and treatment of mental illness and
professionally trained workers were needed to
improve the care and treatment of the mentally ill
persons.
MENTAL HEALTH
❑ Is a “state of complete physical, mental, and social
wellness, not merely the absence of disease.”
❑ The person is in a state of emotional, physical, and
social well-being, fulfills life responsibilities, function
effectively in daily life, and are satisfied with their
interpersonal relationships and to themselves.
