The word melanncholia has Greek roots (chole - bile, mélas - black). Melancholy is a mental disorder accompanied by a depressed mood. It used to be called depression.
A bit of history
When did the concept of melancholy first appear? The meaning of the word, as already said, is determined by Greek roots. For the first time, a description of the state is found in Homer in the Iliad, which described the wanderings of Bellerophon in the Aleisk field. Pythagoras of Samos made recommendations in case of depression. In particular, in his writings, he talked about the fact that with bouts of anger or sadness one should leave people and, left alone, “digest” sensations, having come to calm. Pythagoras was the first to prescribe music therapy. In hours of gloom, he recommended listening to music - Hesiod's hymns. Democritus advised to analyze his life and contemplate the world when a person had melancholy (synonyms for oppression, depression, depression). For a long period, there was no clear definition of the condition.
Who was the first to define the condition?
For the first time I tried to determine what melancholy is, Hippocrates. In his writings, there are two concepts with which he tried to explain this condition. First, Hippocrates called melancholic one of the temperaments of people in whose body a lot of bile accumulated.
In his opinion, a person who is characterized by such a state avoids society and light, he constantly sees danger. In addition, such people constantly complain of pain in the abdomen, "as if they were pricked with many needles." Discussing
what melancholy is, Hippocrates associated this condition with a long illness. He also described some symptoms: insomnia, aversion to food, anxiety, irritability. It should be said: the assumption that provocative factors should be sought in the work of the brain was put forward by the predecessors of Hippocrates. But it was he who wrote that all complaints and discontent are in the head. It is from this that a person becomes insane, he is seized with fear or anxiety.
Whose writings still mention the concept of melanncholia?
What is melancholy, argued by many philosophers. For example, in his writings, Aristotle asked the question: “Why was it typical for individuals who shone in government or creativity to be often depressed?” Some suffered a spill of bile (Hercules for example). He, as contemporaries believed, was a melancholy, and by his name the ancients called Hercules's disease. In the writings of Plato there are several definitions of the oppressed state. Arguing about what melancholy is, the philosopher spoke of a certain state of mania. It could manifest itself in the form of madness, rage or inspiration and delight. In the latter case, Plato spoke of the “right” fury emanating from the muses. In other words, depression, in his opinion, gave poetic inspiration and pointed to the advantages of a person who is able to stay in this state over other ordinary people who are characterized by everyday rationality. Avicenna also gave his definition of what melancholy is. In his writings, he called this condition deviation towards frustration, spoilage, and fear. It was possible to determine the state by constant obsessions, excessive thoughtfulness, a look fixed on the ground or on one thing. Avicenna also refers to sadness on the face and insomnia as signs.
Modern classification of mental pathologies
The disease can occur at different ages. However, older and older people are most prone to mental disorders. In this case, pathologies can provoke or not provoke dementia. In medicine, senile and involutional psychoses are distinguished . In the first case, the disease develops on the basis of a destructive process that occurs in the brain. It is accompanied by gross violations of intelligence.
Involutional diseases
Such pathologies include disorders that do not lead to dementia. Their development is facilitated by a special warehouse of personality - with signs of rigidity, suspiciousness, anxiety. As provocative factors, previous somatic pathologies and psycho-traumatic situations may appear. Involutional melancholy is characteristic of women after menopause (hormonal changes in the body). Prolonged anxiety-delusional or anxious depression occurs, as a rule, at the age of 50-65 years.
Treatment
In ancient Rome, therapeutic measures consisted of bloodletting. However, if the patient was contraindicated due to poor health, then emetics were prescribed. The patient was also recommended rubbing the whole body, laxatives. Doctors of antiquity sought during the treatment to inspire the patient with pep. One of the effective methods was the conversation with the melancholic on topics that previously interested him. Also, the patricians practiced a no less effective way to get rid of the disease - entertainment with sleep deprivation.
Therapeutic methods used from the 18th to the 20th century
In Germany, melancholy was treated in a very strange way. The patient was tied to a rotating wheel, suggesting that centrifugal force would eliminate the "pound load from the shoulders", "lead weight from the limbs." It should, however, be said that until the twentieth century, there were no ceremonies with patients who fell to psychiatrists.
At that time, quite cruel methods were used to get rid of mental illnesses: keeping on a chain, beating, hunger. Such treatment, in particular, was received by George the Third. When the king fell into insanity, on the recommendations of the best European doctors he was brutally beaten. When he had another attack of melancholy, George the Third died.
About three quarters of a century, hydrotherapy was used in medicine. To eliminate depression, get rid of a decadent mood, a sudden immersion in cold water was used until the patient showed the first signs of strangulation. The length of time the patient spent under such conditions was equal to the time needed to read the Miserere psalm not too quickly. Another method that was popular at that time was also used: the patient was tied in the bath, and up to fifty buckets of cold water were poured onto his head. At the beginning of the 19th century, in Russia, the application of leeches to the anus, rubbing the head with a wine emetic was used for therapy. Warm baths were prescribed in winter, and cool in summer. Before the use of antidepressants, narcotic drugs were widely used. The most popular were opium and opiates. These drugs were used until the sixties of the twentieth century.
Modern treatments
Typically, antidepressants are prescribed to relieve or eliminate depression. They can be prescribed in combination with small doses of antipsychotic drugs (such as, for example, "Etaperazin", "Frenolon", "Sonapax"). The main objective of drug treatment is to relieve stress, eliminate fear, anxiety, and delirium. Drugs are prescribed by the attending physician. With the ineffectiveness of such treatment, in some cases, electroconvulsive therapy is indicated. As a rule, the patient is placed in a psychiatric hospital.