When we think about Greece, we think of the scholars, and some of the discoveries in health and wellness which were done back then.

But one area that we don’t talk about enough is the mental health aspects of treatment in Ancient Greece.

How were they treated? Were they a thing?

Let’s talk a little bit more about how mental illness was handled back then, and some of the different problems with how it was treated.

There Was Some Treatment, but Very Primitive

When it comes to mental illness, there was some acknowledgment of this.  In fact, Greece was one of the earliest practioners of medicine back in the day.

But that does not mean it was good. However, Hippocrates of Cos began to conduct experiments, and it did lead to some discoveries of ancient treatment.

The earliest one, was of course the humors in the body.  Back then, they thought that an imbalance of the humors was what caused mental illness.  They didn’t use modern technology and tools to help treat these ailments, but instead, they used ancient medicine to treat it. 

While Hippocrates was a physician and he knew about the brain, he thought that this was where mental disorders came from too.  He used different treatments to treat his patients.

Sometimes these treatments were done regarded psychoses rather than neuroses, but there wasn’t really a surefire way to discover the symptoms of each condition.  Delusions, delirium, and hallucinations were still not very known, but usually there was some treatment.

Alternative Medicine and Treatment

For many mental illnesses in ancient Greece, the treatments were based on alternative medicine.

For example, Greek coffee was supposedly the key to longevity, and many drank it in order to have balance in life.

Alternative medicine focused on balancing out the humors, since they thought that was the source of delirium.

While there was some counseling that was done, usually it was primitive.  And in some serious cases, they used physical restraint to hold people down. 

They did not use pharmaceuticals, especially what we consider to be thus, in that day and age. But, some alternative treatments were utilized in order to help with this.

Religion and Superstitions

In a lot of cases, religion and superstitions were the main sources of blame for mental illness. Some said praying to a deity would help with their affliction.  Some believed that those who suffered from madness were caused by demon possession. 

Some believed that this was the reason behind schizophrenia, DID, and even bipolar disorder.

These people didn’t have the means to diagnose and identify this disease, and there wasn’t any evidence for this too. But despite this, they used means to repel the spirits from the body.

Some of the skulls found back then had some holes bored into them with tools, which was probably done to get the “demon” to escape and stop the delirium.

The Shunning of Mental Illness

Finally, the Greeks were not the best with handling mental illness.

They thought mental illness was a stigma, to the point where if you exhibited any sort of mental illness you were locked up, shunned from society, and in some cases even killed. People with diseases that changed their behavior were often feared by those people around them, of course because they didn’t understand what was going on.

Some thought that this was caused by the gods being angry at a person, and if they were around said person they'd also suffer from this fate.  Those afflicted were often locked up so they didn’t injure other people or themselves.

It is something that some parents would even do to their children, where they’d lock up to the person and prevent them from coming out so they didn't disturb the peace.  Some patients were even forced indoors or shunned and forced to walk through the city.

Changes in Mental Health Treatment

Thankfully, despite how poorly mental health was regarded in ancient Greece, things did change. Modern medicine has shown the importance of mental health, treating it, and why it matters.

In this day and age, getting help for mental illness is not always stigmatized. While there is still a little bit of stigma, many are beginning to normalize this better with time, which is a good thing.

There are also more ways to get help too, and actual means to get help for your illness.  You can even get help online through an online counseling site such as BetterHelp. You can get help for your afflictions here: https://www.betterhelp.com and from the comfort of your home.

Mental illness was not handled positively back in the day but luckily, there are new ways to get the help that you need easily, and without many changes to your life as well.