Early Views on

Abnormal
Behavior
Across ages there seem to be three major forces that compete, if not
complement, in explaining different phenomena involving the
human psyche and behavior. These are the religious or
supernatural, the biological or physiological, and psychological
traditions.
Religious or Supernatural Model

Disorders are viewed as caused by spirit possession or curse,

punishment for evil deeds; and the deviant behavior are deemed as
arena for the battle between good and evil. It means that people who
succumb to mental illness could be those who have weak moral or
spiritual fibers such that they were overpowered by outside agent or
forces or spirits. Some early civilizations like Greece, China, Egypt, at
one point believed abnormal behaviors as afflictions caused by angry
gods, or evil spirits and ghosts; or because of witchcrafts. Treatments of
people included crude techniques like trephination, or drilling of holes
on the person’s skull to drive away the evil spirits, rites of exorcism, or
torture to make the human body uninhabitable by the possessing spirit.
• This spirit possession viewpoint on mental disorders was
strongly felt again around the middle or dark ages in Europe in
such phenomena as “mass hysteria” or “mass madness”
characteristic of the dance frenzies, “tarantism” in Italy, and
“St. Vitus Dance” in Germany. At present, these are better
described as “psychic epidemics” or “emotion contagion.” It
was also during this time that saw the infamous “witch hunt,”
which took the form of burning of mostly women in the stake,
subjecting them to float-test; or shock treatments like hanging
or dunking them in ice cold water. This was supposed to purge
people who were branded as heretics or threats to the dominant
church, which wanted total control of people’s knowledge and
life. Anybody that espoused otherwise or threatened the
dominant view was reduced to being pathological and hunted.
• Aside from evil spirits, other outside agents that were
believed to be causing disorders are astronomical forces
like the movement of sun, moon and starts which the
philosopher Paracelsus believed to be causing
disharmony in the human body; or which much, much
later, Anton Mesmer also thought to cause the imbalance
in the magnetic fields in the body. So now, we understand
why people who have mental disorders are sometimes
labeled lunatic, as an allusion to the influence of the lunar
or moon cycle. Such explanations of psychological
problems were most dominant during the Renaissance
era.
• Apparently the precursor of the concept of
psychosomatic illnesses, the early Egyptians
had a notion of a “wandering uterus” i.e. the
uterus moving to other parts of the woman’s
body which disrupts functioning of vital
organs, to which they often attribute physical
or emotional distress that have no organic
basis. This condition was also believed in by
the Greeks, which they called “hysteria” from
the word hystera, meaning uterus.
Physiological/Biological View

• The initial attempts to make sense of mental conditions from a scientific frame was through the
physiological or biological view ushered in by the Greek philosopher and so-called father of
western medicine, Hippocrates. His views were later picked up and expanded by the Roman
philosopher, Galen. According to Hippocrates, mental disorders can be caused by brain
pathology, head trauma, or even faulty heredity, thus, they are to be approached as one treats
any other physical diseases. He probably has predated the psychology of consciousness as he
initially considered the brain to be the seat of wisdom, consciousness, intelligence and emotion
thus, any aberrations in these internal functions could logically be attributed to a problem in the
brain. We can say that Hippocrates has initially highlighted the role of psychological and
interpersonal factors to psychopathology Hippocrates also introduced the theory of four humors,
or substances that make up the human body that are connected to key elements in the universe:
black bile( earth) , yellow bile(fire), blood(air), and phlegm(water). Accordingly, imbalance
among these substances in the body leads to mental disorders or sickness in the individual.
• Much later, Galen would adopt and develop
Hippocrate’s humoral theory of disorders. He also
believed that normal brain functioning was related to
four bodily fluids that are concentrated in key bodily
organs —blood(fire;heart), black bile(earth;spleen),
choler or yellow bile(water;liver), and
phlegm(air;brain). He and other physicians believed
that disease resulted from too much or too little of one
of the humors. The Hippocratic-Galenic humoral
theory of disorder, might be considered as the first
example of associating psychological disorders with a
“chemical
• Both philosophers’ notion of balanced humors, and the
Ancient Chinese’s belief in the balance of yin (negative
force) and yang(positive force) in the body can be
considered also as the earlier version of the more naturalist,
which will later transformed to be the more medical way of
looking at disorders such that philosophers like Celsus
mentioned about the value of natural or herbal treatments
for depression and delusions, and Asclepiades even thought
of using physical therapy to treat mental illnesses. They
believed that “madness” has natural causes that needs to be
dealt with humane treatment, setting the stage of a humane
lens in looking at the mentally sick, but one view that will
be lost during the so-called dark or middle ages.
• In the 19th century, John P. Grey championed a more modern
biological tradition in the US, suggesting that the causes of
insanity were physical; therefore, mental patients should be
treated as if they were physically ill, with treatment including
rest, diet, proper room temperature and ventilation. He even
invented the rotary fan to ventilate his large hospital.
Eventually, however, Grey and his colleagues, ironically
reduced interest in treating mental patients because they
thought mental illness were the result of some as-yet
undiscovered brain pathology and were, therefore, incurable
and the only remedy was through hospitalization. The early
20th century onwards, saw the directions towards developing
newer and more scientific treatments. This gave rise to such
approaches as electric shock and brain surgery or lobotomy
• The idea of insulin shock therapy by Manfred Sakel originated with
giving insulin to facilitate appetite which also appeared to have a
calming effect but was later rejected due to effects like coma or
death. In the 1920s, psychiatrist Joseph Von Meduna observed that
schizophrenia was rarely seen in those with epilepsy, concluding
that induced brain seizures might cure schizophrenia. Meanwhile,
the first effective drugs for psychotic disorders were discovered
(rawolfia serpentine or reserpine); later followed by the discovery
of neuroletptics (major tranquilizers) which intended to control
hallucinatory and delusional thought processes; and
benzodiazepines(minor tranquilizers) for reducing anxiety. Perhaps,
the most prominent figure in this century was Emil Kraeplin—
influential in advocating the major ideas of the biological tradition
and primarily credited for the coming up with taxonomy of mental
disorders, now known as the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of
mental disorders.
Psychological View

• One of the more prominent and heart-rending period in the

history of abnormal psychology was the period of the
“asylums,” special institutions for the mentally disturbed in
Europe during the Renaissance period. They were
originally created to remove those with mental disorder
from the general population because they were basically
incapacitated. Instead of becoming a place of solace,
however, these structures became notorious for the grave
abuse and animal-like treatment of people with mental
illness.
• The bringing to light of this harsh reality spurred the
reform movement with the the historic unshackling
of the mentally by Philippe Pinel at the La Bicetre,
Salpetriere in France—an act that was followed by
William Tuke in England) and Benjamin Rush in the
US. This was the start of a strong advocacy for more
humane treatment of people suffering from mental
problems. Later on, there emerged “moral therapy,” a
psychosocial approach that attempted to treat patient
as normally as possible in an environment that
support normal social interaction.
• Down to the mid-19th century, Dorothea Dix (US) fervently
campaigned for more humane treatment of the insane and paved
the way for the institutionalization of “custodial care,” which
somehow led to the decline of moral therapy. She also began the
mental hygiene movement that promoted the value of rest and
relaxation and conducive physical environment. With the advent
of the 20th century more modern psychological views of mental
disorders surfaced through psychoanalysis and behaviorism.
Psychoanalysis began with the works of Anton Mesmer, called
“mesmerism” or the technique of inducing trancelike states in
patients suffering from hysterical disorders. There was also the
neurologist Jean Charcot, who was also interested in hysteria and
its psychological causes, contrary to his original notion about
possible brain degeneration as the cause. Accounts would later tell
us the Charcot later taught Sigmund Freud who would bring
psychoanalysis to unimaginable heights later on.
Abnormal Psychology in the
Philippine Context
• Psychology as a separate discipline is a very young field
in the Philippines, barely a century old. So the local
scientific literature has only little to say about the
development of abnormal psychology in the country. If
we are to have a glimpse of this subject matter, we need
to look into its connection to the study of indigenous
psychology or Sikolohiyang Pilipino(SP) though there
are accounts done by researchers who were not
officially part of the SP movement that began in the 70s.
• The Filipino psychiatrist Lourdes Lapuz came up with the
first published work psychopathology or Sikopatolohiya
entitled The Study of Psychopathology in the Philippine
Setting. Based on her attempt to compare Filipino
psychiatric patients from patients she encountered while on
training in New York, she noted the cultural influences in the
Filipino patients’ experience of their disorders particularly
the Filipino’s tendency to somatize and the predominance of
religious or spiritual themes in their hallucination or
delusions. Belief in the spirit or supernatural world among
Filipinos has also shaped their understanding of the causes
of disorders and help-seeking behaviors such that they would
rather go to local healers called babaylans or arbularyos, to
treat people with mental health problems.
• Even the SP forerunner, Dr. Virgilio Enriquez acknowledged the centrality of
spirituality and religion in the Filipino psyche which also influenced another
clinical psychologist Dr. VioletaVillaroman Bautista who introduced an elective
course in the University of the Philippines titled Psycho-spiritual Psychotherapy
that explored mental issues that rooted to one’s religious or spiritual beliefs and
explored topics like sapi, litawin, fanaticism, kabagutan(boredome), katiwalagan sa
buhay (alienation), among others; and therapeutic approaches like forgiveness,
pagdedebosyon( practice of devotions), pananalangin (prayers), and other related
concepts. Of late, Bautista is exploring the concept of ginhawa (total well-being) in
her clinical work and research. She also noted important themes in the field such as
Filipino’s propensity to search for ginhawa in their lives, one thing which,
accordingly, any psychotherapist has to respond SP’s conceptualization of the
Filipino personality as consisting of internal-external dimensions (loob and labas),
lalim (depth) and taas (height), kababawan, with a nakalipas (past), kasalukuyan
(present), and kinabukasan (future). Other themes she observed from her decades of
clinical practice is that “the body is most useful but neglected entry point to helping
Filipino clients, as gleaned in such expressions as namamanhid ang puso, or
nagsisikip ang dibdib; the greater appreciation to spiritual approach among
clinicians; the value of kalinga ( nurture, care) in becoming effective in helping
those with mental health concerns; the importance of the family context and
community support in helping individuals in distress