The Etiology of the Illnesses of the Psyche in the Hippocratic Texts

doi:10.7575/aiac.abcmed.v.2n.1p.13

Abstract

Highlights

In the Homeric poems (8th century B.C.), the first written texts found in ancient Greek, everything is ruled by the will of Gods, including the human soul and body
The Hippocratic texts record the beginnings of a primitive classification of illnesses of the soul; the authors distinguish, for instance, “phrenitis” from “melancholy”, taking into account the different symptoms appearing in the patients [23]
In the Hippocratic texts, the body and the soul is a unified entity, which does not exist in the Homeric poems, for instance

Summary

Introduction

In the Homeric poems (8th century B.C.), the first written texts found in ancient Greek, everything is ruled by the will of Gods, including the human soul and body. In the case of the “sacred disease” – epilepsy -, an excessive collection of phlegm in the area of the aorta is the cause of the illness, obstructing the movement of the “psychic pneuma” towards the heart, causing accumulation of pneuma that provokes spasms. The “psychic pneuma” was considered to be formed and stored in the brain, and distributed to the rest of the body through the nerves. This type of pneuma was thought to be a basic element of the psyche and a power interfering to the activities of the nervous system

Hippocratic views on the illnesses

Etiology of epilepsy

The etiology of “phrenitis”

Etiology of mania

Etiology of melancholy

Findings

Discussion