Renaissance Mental Illness

Hippocrates influence faded In the final years before Christ and the prevailing belief among cultured Romans was that depression and other forms of mental illnesses were caused by the anger of gods and demons. Cornelius Celsus for instance, believed that shackles, beating and starvation were appropriate treatments. The Persian physician Rhazes, who was the head doctor at Baghdad hospital, in contrast to the Roman view, saw the brain as the center of both mental illness and depression. His treatments involved behavior therapy, rewards for good behavior and hydrotherapy.
During the 14th century when the renaissance began in Italy considerations of mental illness was regarded as both progressive and regressive. Witch-hunts and executions of