Please read chapter 12. After reading the chapter, please respond to the following questions:
What were three (3) things from the chapter that you found interesting? Why were they interesting to you? What one (1) thing did you find the least interesting? Why?
What did you read in the chapter that you think will be most useful to in understanding the history of psychology?
How, in what ways, does this chapter relate (build on) to the previous chapters?
What topic would you like to learn more about? Why ?
What ideas did you have while reading the chapter?
Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Chapter 12
The first thing I found interesting was about Franz Anton Mesmer. He developed a procedure for treating hysteria based on his belief that the disorder was the result of disturbed magnetic forces within ones’ body. He was so into his belief of disturbed magnetic forces that he believed that he had magnetic powers. While believing such a thing he developed a treatment for patients by “mesmerizing” them. His discovery was eventually known by its name today hypnotism. His discovery was accompanied by several others as the years went on, John Elliotson, James Esdaile, James Braid, and several others.
The second thing that caught my attention was about Sigmund Fraud. I was not aware that Fraud was trained in neurology and became interested in the treatment of hysteria. Throughout my years of school, this aspect of Fraud’s life was never discussed. I was always briefly introduced to the Freudian myth. Fraud was greatly influenced by Meynert and Charcot when it came to problems with hysteria, along with Darwin’s work. Fraud believed that hysteria was resulted due to trauma, real or imagined. Another thing I was not6 aware of was that Fraud developed the procedure of free association, which a person would say whatever came to mind. His theory to the development of hysteria was sexual problems. He believed the results were from being sexual abused in ones’ childhood. This eventually led to his theory of infantile sexuality and oedipal complex.
The third and final thing I found interesting was that Lightner Witmer established the first clinic for treatment of disorders in the US in 1896. His clinic focused on psycho-educational problems, similar to those of modern psychology. He believed that the problems he studied could be treated, he called his treatment orthogenics.
The thing I found least interesting, although I feel it was of some interest to me just not as much was the section about early treatment of the mentally ill. I felt that it was less interesting because I’ve already heard that information from previous courses. In my opinion the most useful thing for understanding the history of psychology would have been the information on the disorder, hysteria. Simply because knowing the development, theories, and treatment of the disorder will help us evolve our knowledge of other disorder than just the specific ones discussed. I also think that the history and the evolution of the theories will broaden our understanding of psychology’s history. The chapter relates and builds off the previous chapters by moving further with major contributors in psychology and focusing on specific disorders. The topic I would be most interested in furthering my research in would be hysteria. I don’t know much about this disorder; however I have been briefly instructed about it in my abnormal psychology course.
Terminology: hysteria, mentally ill, orthogenics, psycho-educational, modern psychology, Lightner Witmer, oedipal complex, infantile sexuality, free association, Darwin, Meynert and Charcot, Sigmund Fraud, John Elliotson, James Esdaile, James Braid, hypnotism, mesmerizing, Franz Anton Mesmer
The first topic I found interesting was on Franz Anton Mesmer. Mesmer graduated from the University of Vienna in 1766 and earned a medical degree. Because of his marriage he entered into Vienna’s highest social circles and was introduced to many high end people. Mesmer was intrigued by electricity and magnetism and became convinced that magnetic powers affected humans directly. Those whose internal magnetic forces were aligned properly had good health and those whose were misaligned had ill health mentally or physically. In order to treat these people Mesmer gave people medications high in iron and he passed magnets over their bodies. This procedure was called animal magnetism, and would later become known as hypnosis. Mesmer demonstrated the power of suggestion on behavior with this because people listened to him, fell into a trance, and when they woke up they felt as if there health had improved. This whole concept just seems silly to me, it made me think back to the section on phrenology and how it all was a hoax, and the people of Vienna soon believed that too with the succession of his practice involving mainly women and it being fairly hands on. He was forced out of Vienna and continued his practice on to Paris where he began doing group sessions and mob mentality took over and everyone believed they felt cured when in actuality this science was a quack.
The next topic I was interested in was Freud on the importance of sex. Whenever anyone thinks about Freud they think about their typical introductory psychology classes where they learn about the development of such terms including free association, resistance, dream analysis, etc. but we never really learn about his thoughts on the importance of sex. The book goes on to explain how in the mid 1880’s/90’s sex in marriage was considered a necessary evil only necessary for reproduction besides males who could have sex with prostitutes for pleasure. This left women feeling sexually frustrated, and husbands feeling guilty. In result there was a high demand for therapists and Freud capitalized on this. His theory wasn’t exactly along the lines of what the book introduced the topic on, but rather it talked about how those with hysteria usually had some kind of sexual trauma happen to them when they were young this theory would be known as the seduction hypothesis. He thought people repressed these memories and the only way they could be recognized was through talking through a therapist. When Freud presented these ideas they weren’t widely accepted and he himself found many reasons why it may be inaccurate. What he and other scientists came to conclusion on was that sexuality did not begin in adolescence but existed in some form from infancy. I don’t really know what he means by this but I would like to learn more on this topic. Does this mean that we are born knowing what sex is so if we wouldn’t repress these memories?
The last topic I found interesting was Lightner Witmer. The reason I found this psychologist to be so interesting was because he used his intelligence, and resources to create a clinic that could help children learn. He loved the research aspect of psychology so he was always willing to look into new and different cases. When a local school teacher brought a student in who couldn’t spell Witmer discovered he had poor eyesight, next he helped a child who had a speech disorder. Eventually the clinic would open up and help 10,000 children. What he did in this clinic would later be known as school psychology but he had a physician examine patients medically, he had social workers compile family/school history, and lastly he and his assistants did mental testing to determine intellectual capacities of these children through a process known as orthogenics. He labeled them as a. experiencing some correctable medical condition but not needing special training, b. possibly experiencing some medical problem but more clearly requiring some special program or other environmental intervention, or c. being severely retarded, untreatable, and requiring custodial care. Up until this point I loved everything about Witmer but I was very confused when the later paragraph stated that he believed severely retarded children should be segregated from society in special institutions and prevented from having children.
One topic that I did not particularly enjoy was the introductory information on reforms of the mentally ill. The only reason I say this is because I have learned about it all so often so it just seems like a review. I know this information is very important and I wasn’t bored when reading through it at all I just found myself skimming since I have learned most of it already.
In this chapter we learned a lot about the psychology behind human behavior which has branched off from other chapters in many ways. We see more connections on different types of therapy done by psychologists, we see hypnosis come into play again, some of the bigger schools like the University of Vienna are mentioned again, but all in all I thought that this chapter was the most different than anything we have read thus far so it was nice to have a change. I think that the most important thing in this chapter that will need to be remembered for chapters to come is Freud as a whole and everything he stood for.
Terms: Mesmerism, hypnosis, Mesmer, animal magnetism, Freud, free association, resistance, dream analysis, seduction hypothesis, Witmer, orthogenics, school psychology.
Now that we have talked about all the different fields of psychology that have been created we move into the chapter that is about mental illness. I think that this was saved to be a later chapter because it can connect with a lot of different fields of psychology and also it is what a lot of people think of when they think of psychology. It was important to show that there are other branches of psychology before going into mental illness. It builds off the last chapters by going more in depth to a specific area of psychology.
The first thing that I found interesting was Rush’s idea of bloodletting. I thought that this was interesting because I am also an anthropology major and have read a lot about how certain villages will use this as a way to rid their body of bad things. They also will use bloodletting as a way of moving from one stage in life to another like Male initiation. It seems to be the same thing basically in Rush’s mind about trying to heal the body from contamination. He used it to remove diseased or excess blood from the patient. He would drain the individuals who were hypertensive of blood to the point where they weren’t reacting anyone. This is more true of the fact that they didn’t have enough blood to fight.
The second thing that I found interesting was Breuer and his idea of catharsis. I thought that this was interesting because he would have a patient look deep within themselves to find the beginning of their trauma, so to say. Anna O had many problems that he tried to help her with. I thought the one about her not being able to drink out of a glass was interesting especially since he was able to find out that it may have all stemmed from her seeing a women share a glass of water with a dog. Even if this isn’t all true or wasn’t completely verified I think the idea that you can fix someone’s problem by getting to the core of it is interesting and I agree to some extent that it would work.
The third thing that I liked was the part on defense mechanisms. I have always thought that the way we deal with trauma and other events in our lives are interesting. Repression is seen in a lot of people who have experienced something so terrible that in order to protect themselves it is repressed into their unconscious. Freud initially came up with these ideas. Along with repression there was projection, reaction formation, and sublimation, but a lot more defense mechanisms have been created. I think sublimation is interesting because it is when you channel your aggression into other activities like sports and sex to help you get over your aggression.
One thing that I didn’t agree with was Freud and his seduction hypothesis. This to me just seemed a little out there. I think a lot of his ideas were based on childhood trauma and that this was a little too much. He believed that hysteria was caused by being sexually abused as a child and that the people that were sexually abused buried those memories. When they got older and were more informed on sex then they would show signs of hysteria because there repressed memory was driving them that way. He did come to reject this theory, but still came up with a just as odd theory of Oedipus complex.
I thought that defense mechanisms were the most interesting thing in this chapter and I would like to learn more about them. I think that this is one thing that is very true among humans. We do have defense mechanisms that we use to try to save ourselves from experiences that we can’t handle. I want to know how many defense mechanisms have been named.
It is hard to pick one thing that was most useful in history of psychology. I think that a lot of this chapter is very important especially for people that want to go into clinical psychology. To me I guess the main thing to take away from this chapter is that things change. Symptoms, people, and the situation changes all the time and you have to be able to adapt to those changes in order to help someone. Just like in the case of Anna O.
When reading this chapter I had ideas about what happened to Freud as a child or in his life to make him so obsessed with sex. I feel like half of his theories have to do with sex or sexual orientation. Even his dream analysis had to do with sex or aggression. It seemed like he mainly dealt with negative aspects to people and I just don’t understand why he was so concerned with those two things.
Psychology, mental illness, Freud, seduction hypothesis, Breuer, Anna O, catharsis, rush, bloodletting, hypertensive, Oedipus complex, repression, unconscious, defense mechanisms, sublimation, reaction formation, projection,
I really enjoyed reading this chapter. I thought the contents of this chapter was very interesting and also very eye opening as to how bad the conditions really were in the early asylums and mental hospitals. It also showed how far we have came in the development of mental hospitals and also the treatment and different therapies offered to the mentally ill.
The first thing in the chapter that I found to be interesting were the mehtods of bloodletting, gyrator, and tranquilizer. I thought Rush's idea of bloodletting was an interesting concept. My reason being is that he thought by "bleeding" someone it would cure their mental illness and their hyperactive episodes. When really it only made them weak so they didn't have the energy to act out. I wasn't a fan of this treatment, I thought it was kind of cruel actually. Just letting someone bleed, its a wonder more didn't die from this "treatment." I also thought the gyrator and tranquilizer methods of treatment were interesting as well. The gyrator was a divice individuals were strapped to and spun in circles so blood rushed to their heads. The tranquilizer was a divice where the individual had their arms and legs strapped to a chair and they had a tight box around their head, almost like they were confined. These methods were very popular when first introduced, but then eventually were replaced. I also thought these methods were a little absurd, they seemed very cruel as well. The second topic I found interesting were the conditions of the Asylums. Many of the Asylums had terrible living conditions! "Patients" were chained to walls, malnourished, and treated like animals. I was astonished by how poorly the onditions were in these facilities, and also how poorly the occupants were treated. No wonder they were never cured, they were never properly cared for to begin with!! The third thing that I found interesting was the fact that Beers was a patient in a mental hospital before he did his research. He used that experience to help him in his findings. I thought that was an interesting fact about him, and how he used his past experiencces to help him in his findings.
The topic I really didn't care for in this chapter was the huge section about Freud. I've heard about Frued time and time again, in almost every class I've taken and I'm just over hearing about him. It was a tough section to read at times because it was so repetitive. I think this chapter feeds off the previous because it is going into more detail about how the first hospitals, asylums, and treatments came about. It also shows how much the treatment methods have improved over time. Which is definitely a good thing considering how inhumane some were.
Terms: Freud, Asylums, Mental Hospitals, Rush, Beers, Gyrator, Tranquilizer, Bloodletting, Therapies, Mentally Ill, Treatment
The thing I found interesting in today’s reading consisted with the three out four gentleman linked to the reform somewhat related to enlightenment of mental illness treatment. Before I talk about that I found the little bit of reading before them quit interesting as well. We all know about the burning at the stake or drowning as a witch was, at those times, a way to rid one of evil or possession. If we look at it another way those with a mental illness that were feared or loathed and treated as such stated above. This lead to being locked away, perhaps chained to a wall with no hope for freedom. From a psychologist point of view this seems bleak in any standard history of mental illness. I agreed to myself, but then I kept reading and found out that there were treatises that proposed biological causes for mental illness during this time, medieval times. During this demonology we have uncovered evidence that the insane were frequently treated with some compassion within their communities and to a point through organized governmental intervention. Something that shocked me after reading.
It was this the lead me to read about Phillip Pinel. A French reformer who started the first instituted humane reform in Paris. With his most world renown action of removing chains from patients who had been restrained for years. He was unable to remove them completely, for the chains were simply replaced with more modern and human forms of restraint. Never the less. Pinel took the first step to reform mental institutions in a program he called moral treatment. A treatment that brought with it improved patient nutrition, hygiene, and general living conditions. The next was William Tuke who did a similar reform around the same time in England. For Tuke, there was more of a working style environment in his design then that of a prison. Still following Pinel treatment style Tuke’s York Retreat allowed for greater freedom for those that behaved well and for those that behaved badly were punished with isolation or bound to their beds. It was this sort of philosophy treatment that became a private practice in the U.S. during the first quarter of the nineteenth century.
Thirdly was Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence and a surgeon in the Continental Army, he was the first American to bring a scientific approach to the treatment of the mentally ill. The fact that he was I signer of the declaration was a big shock to me and made all the more exciting to find out he was the one to promote bloodletting. A way of removing diseases or excess blood by the draining of blood from the body, which was thought to cure a wide range of illnesses. It is this belief out of any others that I have read to be completely absurd and asinine; to not take into consideration that lose of blood however the case is bad for an individual is astounding. To make things worse Rush created two devices for calming the blood: the gyrator (spinning of an individual on a board) and the tranquilizer (restraining an individual from movement to lower pulse rate), both of which came to be standard forms of treatment.
Thoughts I had from reading this chapter were many. To start out, where did people come up with their names for their studies, like the machine used for bloodletting called the tranquilizer. It just sounds like a torture devise and without reading one could only guess what happens to the individual in the picture. Does he really get a tranquilizer, if so where? The head? Then there is animal magnetism, come on! The man’s name was Mesmer and he pulls out “animal” I can see where he got magnetism from but I’m just glad we came to a later conclusion of calling it hypnosis. The topic I would like to learn more about would be about that of the time during the medieval times. What more was actual done to those thought of as evil or possessed, or more along the lines of how documentary they were in their studies. It’s always fun to find something new out about something old that was thought to have been set in stone or lost. Especially over something as interesting as knights and kings.
Terms: demonology, Phillip Pinel, moral treatment, William Tuke, York Retreat, Benjamin Rush, Declaration of Independence, Continental Army, bloodletting, gyrator, tranquilizer, animal magnetism, Mesmer,
The first part of this chapter I found interesting was The Wild Boy of Averyon. Jean Itard found Victor who was a twelve year old boy wandering around in the woods. He was abandoned as a child and had managed to survive. Itard tried teaching him simple tasks, which later he began to be able to complete. He also tried to teach him how to speak, some of it he could comprehend but he couldn't use language fully. Edouard Seguin took over caring for Victor even though Itard had failed. Victor remained the same even after Seguin took care of him. To me this is intriguing because it shows that even though Victor was an "incurable idiot" he could still be taught. Some "incurable idiots" can understand and should continue to be taught because they may actually comprehend lessons. We can't just assume that they can't be taught but everyone is different. A twelve year old boy somehow managed to survive on his own in the woods for who knows how long, so obviously his brain functions are better than they thought. This led me to my IDEA that maybe if Itard and Seguin would have tried an experiment to see how his brain functioned well enough to survive in the woods, example: how did he know where to sleep at night? what to eat? how to stay warm? ect. Maybe if they had figured out how he learned to do those things they could have came up with different teaching methods.
Another aspect of this chapter I found interesting was Benjamin Rush's bloodletting treatment. Rush believed bloodletting could cure mental illness. I have heard this before but I never knew how much blood they took out of someone. They would remove anywhere from 400 to 500 ounces of blood. Bloodletting would relieve the tension from the blood vessels until the patient returned to a more tranquil state. In all actuality the patients were too weak to be hyperactive. The one patient Rush cured relapsed and killed himself. I think this is interesting because this guy was intelligent yet he believed by pouring blood out of people it cured them. I think what he should have discovered was that it made them more ill.
I also think it is interesting that society allowed asylums to become so dirty, unlivable, and unbearable. Although even today sometimes doctors have to put patients in restraints they still don't chain them to the walls. The mentally ill are humans too so why did they get treated so badly in the 18th and 19th centuries? I'm glad Phillipe Pinel developed his moral treatment program. It gave patients better nutrition, hygiene, and overall living conditions. I also thought it was great he used reinforcement and punishment before behavior modification had been in full swing.
The part of the chapter I found least interesting was on Freud. Freud's theories are so over taught it is unbelievable. His psychoanalytic theory is taught in every psychology class I have had. This chapter relates to chapter 11 because it involves the behavior of the mentally ill. This chapter shows us that at a very early point in psychologies history psychologists were discovering how therapy could help the mentally ill.
Terms: Mentally Ill, Psychologists, Behavior, Psychoanalytic Theory. Moral Treatment, Phillipe Pinel, Psychologies, Benjamin Rush, Mental Illness, Bloodletting, Edouard Seguin, Jean Itard, The Wild Boy of Aveyron
I thoroughly enjoyed chapter 12; mental illness and its treatment was the original reason I became a psychology major. The first section that was particularly interesting to me was the very first section, highlighting the, as the book calls is, “enlightened” reform of the treatment for the mentally ill. Until the late eighteenth century/early nineteenth century, the mentally ill were treated inhumane and very similar to prisoners. One of the better known reformists of this unethical treatment was the French physician, Phillipe Pinel. He helped turn the treatment around in asylums for both men and women. One of his biggest accomplishments was removing the chains from patients. There is some debate discussing the validity of this matter, for some believe the amount of patients whose chains were removed was relatively small and that their chains were simply replaced by more modern restraints. However, this movement is still symbolic of the starting point for the more humane treatment of the mentally ill. Pinel called his new form of treatment “moral treatment.” This moral treatment focused on improving the general wellbeing of the patients, focusing on their hygiene and nutrition. This section is significant in showing just how far back the prejudices and stereotypes of the mentally ill go back. These are still prevalent today, as most people are scared of other people living with mental illnesses. To me, this stems from the early treatment of such people. By putting them in asylums, and away from the general public, the knowledge of their illnesses was reduced and the general public was afraid to talk about them, even more reducing their knowledge. Furthermore, as a gerontology major and someone who works in/visits nursing homes frequently, I recognized a parallel between the history of treatment for the mentally ill and the treatment of elderly adults. Currently, there is a movement urging nursing homes to change their environment from a more hospital-like setting to a community setting. This allows the residents to feel like people, rather than patients and it allows them to have the freedom to make choices, which is very important to the aging population as many of them have already been forced to give up many things that the younger, general public takes for granted (driving license, ability to bathe themselves, etc...)
The second thing I found interesting in Chapter 12 was the work of Franz Anton Mesmer and what resulted in the start of hypnosis. Mesmer believed that magnetic powers directly affected humans and that properly aligned magnetic forces resulted in good health. Because of this belief, Mesmer treated patients living with psychological disorders by giving them large doses of iron, which was believed to help pass magnets throughout their bodies. This causes the patients to enter a state of trance. Once they recovered from the trance, their health was believed to be improved. This was originally called, by Mesmer, animal magnetism. As Mesmer became more of a expert in this area of animal magnetism, he dropped the magnetism and since he believed he had magnetic powers himself, he used his own hands to pass over the bodies of his patients. This is why in today's society, during either a real or reenactment of a hypnosis, the hypnotists is seen passing their hands of the subjects. I thought it was interesting to learn in detail the origins of hypnosis because it is something that has always seemed so far fetched to me. Furthermore, it is important to remember that this "animal magnetism" was favored and became popularized because of the recent discoveries of electricity and magnetism experienced during Mesmer's time. As our technological advances improve, so do our forms of medical treatments.
The third thing that was particularly interesting to read about in Chapter 12 was the work of Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis. Whenever I tell friends that I am a psychology major, they almost always, unknowingly, make a reference to psychoanalysis by saying things like "so, are you gonna have an office with a couch and ask me about my dreams and tell me what they mean?" While psychological treatment is rarely ever like this in today's world, it is fascinating to read about how the origins of this long lived stereotype. Freud had several of patients. These patients would come into his office which was purposely set up to be comfortable (aka the couch). Freud developed free association. Free association allowed the patients to, in a relaxed setting, talk freely about whatever came to their minds. Although what they were saying to Freud was important, he was more focused on what they weren't saying. According to Freud, his patients displayed a lot of resistance, meaning that were unable or unwilling to mention something bad or consequential that had happened to him/her. Freud used dream association which was used to explore the unconscious. Freud believed that it was important to distinguish between the manifest content of the dream and the latent content of the dream. The manifest content is what we believe that dream is trying to portray while the latent content is true meaning, which to Freud almost always had a sexual or aggressive connotation. Freud's work was very monumental for his times. Today, most of his theories have been discredited, nonetheless, his work is very important to understanding the history of psychology, as the book continues on to distinguish the different forms of anxiety.
I didn't like how the book went into great detail about the criticisms of Freud's work. This is something that I have learned about in almost every psychology class that I have taken and it seems to be a bit redundant. However, i do understand why it is something to discuss. Freud's work, despite its let downs, set the stage for modern clinical psychology and therapeutic techniques.
This chapter was set up a bit differently from the previous 11 chapters which was a nice change. The topic sort of switched gears but the author still managed to tie some of the information into previous chapters. Talking about the advances of treatment for the mentally ill highlights the growing of acceptance of psychology as a science to the general public. Also, with animal magnetism we again see the importance/similarties of animal research in the field of psychology that is seen within the previous chapters.
After reading the chapter, I would like to learn more about Dorthea Dix along with the different forms of anxiety listed towards the end of the chapter. Also, the origins of clinical psychology as related to world war 1 would be intersting to learn about in more detail.
Terms used: Sigmund Freud, psychoanalysis, dream association, resistance, animal magnetism, Dorthea Dix, hypnosis, Pinel, Franz Mesmer, clinical psychology, anxiety, manifest content, latent content.
Chapter 12:
I really enjoyed the section on the enlightened reform. I find it very disturbing when I read some of the ways that mentally ill were treating in the early centuries. People did not understand their behaviors and did not know how to help. This lead to unfair treatment because the behaviors they were emitting had to be really bizarre. They were basically either thrown in jails or shunned. These things make me upset, but when you think about it, can you really blame those people back then. They did not have near as much knowledge as we do about mental illness and they were probably just scared of these people. I admire psychologists such as Pinel because they took the time to understand these things, and then they had the passion to do something about it. I like how he used an early form of a reward/punishment system to modify their behavior. These men were really quite ahead of their time.
The next section I really enjoyed was the one on Mesmerism. It really reminded me of the placebo effect. He treatments were thought of to relax the mind and tension. You can really see the early workings of hypnosis. I think that if he really was helping these people, then what is the matter. Some problems exist only in people's head. In those cases, I think you can trick the mind or even change it and fix the problem. If you are giving the appearance that you have just healed them, they may believe it and go on with a better live. This is, in a way, like I mentioned before to be a placebo effect. People should not have been tearing it down but instead look to see what his patients had to say down the line.
The next section I really enjoyed was the one of Freud. I always like and find it interesting to learn about the start of the careers of these famous psychologists. Some of them made huge contributions even in the face of doubt. I think that this relates to college and today's society. There is so much pressure not to fail in life and to find a good job that we forget that we are capable of great things. Sometimes we settle for something less because we think these things are impossible. These men obtained their knowledge through trial and error and using testable hypothesis. They were not always right, but they eventually figured it out and made a difference. Freud is an example of keeping an open mind and studying what interests you the most.
I found everything to be pretty interesting in this chapter. I am really interested in the area of psychoanalysis and I also like the sections on the treatment of the mentally ill. I am glad we had these men to change the tide when they did.
This chapter teaches us not to be ignorant or scared of things we do not understand. I now how a better understanding of why these mentally ill were treated so unfairly. People in that age simply had no way of controlling them. It became a hassle so they used chains and other methods to easily control their behavior.
This chapter gave us more beginnings of great psychologists and schools of thought. It is always important to understand where and why studies such as psychoanalysis began. This gives us a better understanding on what the science is aiming to try and understand. It gives you a sense of it's ultimate goal.
I would like to know more about the start of hypnosis and more specifically, Mesmerism. It would be interesting to see what type of ailments he was treating and whether the successes were valid at all. This chapter got me thinking about placebo effects and how we can manipulate the way we think. I was very interested in hypnosis before this and this section really got me thinking about the validity of it even more.
terms: pinel, reform, enlightenment, Freud, psychoanalysis, Mesmer, Mesmerism, hypnosis, ailments, treatment, placebo, behaviors, emit, rewards/punishment, hypothesis
Chapter 12 was an interesting chapter. It talked about early treatment of the mentally ill. I found a lot of things interesting while reading this chapter. There was a lot of stuff in this chapter that I did not know anything about. I also did know some stuff about some of the well known psychologists but this chapter helped provide more information on their work.
The first thing I found interesting was about Dorthea Dix. She was interested in helping the mentally ill poor. She traveled through all of Massachusetts observing hospitals, jails, and almshouses. While traveling to this large variety of places she found the treatment of the mentally ill poor to be disturbing. She found some chained up in closet-like rooms filled with their own bodily excretions. She also found that most of them were underfed and not dressed well. Another thing she noticed was that a number of them had been beaten and basically abandoned. I knew that early treatment to the mentally ill was nothing pretty, but I did not realize just how bad it was. It is terrible that they were sitting around in their own feces in small compact rooms, but I think the worst part is that they were not even being given treatment, they were just surviving. Dix went to the Massachusetts legislature with the finding she had seen while traveling the state. With this information they granted funding to mental hospitals. After that major success she traveled to every state in the U.S. except Florida, Texas, and North Carolina, doing the same thing. She was able to play a role in the opening of 47 mental hospitals for the feebleminded. Another thing I was surprised about was that out of 9000 people she saw all of them were in need of better care.
The next thing I found interesting in this chapter was about Franz Anton Mesmer and his study of animal magnetism. He believed that he could heal someone by putting iron inside their bodies and using a magnet to move the iron to balance the body, because the illness came from an imbalance. He was basically kicked out of Vienna because of his practice. He then moved to Paris. He continued using his techniques there, and had a large number of people believing that he could help. He even had a mesmerism tree where people could go and hold a rope attached to the tree and it would make them feel better. The Franklin commission found Mesmer's magnetizing powers to actually just be because of the patients beliefs.
The next section I found interesting was the evolution of psychoanalytic theory. Freud spent twenty years developing the metapsychology theory that he began working on when he was 54 years old. He came up with a lot of important concepts in his later years. He came up with the structural analysis of personality. This was made up of the id, ego, and superego. I found this section really interesting because I did not realize how much of Freud's work came so late in his life.
I really liked reading this chapter. I learned a lot of information about treating the mentally ill that I did not know before. I would like to learn more about the Catharsis method. I think it is a really interesting concept that I would like to learn more about.
Terms: Dorthea Dix, almshouses, feebleminded, mentally ill poor, Franz Anton Mesmer, animal magnetism, mesmerism, Freud, psychoanalytic theory, metapsychology, id, ego, superego, and Catharsis.
After reading chapter 12 there were many things that I liked about the chapter. I had been waiting to read about Freud for awhile now, so it was nice to get to this chapter. I learned a lot about him that I did not know already, and it was interesting to see the differences between what I studied in my introductory class, and what this chapter had to offer. It turns out that I did not know a lot of things about Freud, and there was a lot of information that helped me to paint a better a better picture of his contributions to psychology. I liked the Anna O section of the chapter, but that was more of Breuer's work. I did like that fact that Freud studied under him, and how Freud took some of that research to come up with his own theories. One of the things that I found interesting in this chapter would be the section on Creating psychoanalysis. I liked this section because it was some of the stuff that I learned in intro to psychology, so I was fairly familiar with the material. The techniques that Freud used I had forgotten, so it was nice to be refreshed on those. The second section that I found interesting was the one on the Importance of Sex. It was Freud's first theory, but it was shot down by his peers. It was a really interesting theory that dealt with repressed memories, very interesting. The third thing that I thought was interesting in this chapter was the section on the evolution of psychoanalysis. It was confusing for me reading because I could not differentiate some of the ego stuff, but I bet if we talk about it in class it will be easier understand. The different defense mechanisms are interesting to talk about, and the final part of that section that talks sabout Freud's daughter is interesting as well. I will also talk about how this chapter helps me to understand the history of psychology, how this chapter expanded on the previous chapters, what section I would like to learn more about, what did not like about the chapter, and then some thoughts that I had while reading the chapter.
The first thing that I found interesting while reading the chapter was the section on Creating psychoanalysis. It was interesting to read about because of the back story that went along with it. Freud took the ideas of his mentor at the time and created psychoanalysis. Freud believed that Breuer had it wrong in the sense that sex was involved, and that it was not just psychotic symptoms that Breuer had mentioned. Freud thought that all hysteria had a direct correlation that the fact that the patients had some repressed child abuse as children. he develpoed techniques that he would use to dive into his patients unconcious mind. One of the techiniques that the chapter talks about his free association. This is when Freud made his patients lay down on a couch in his office, and just made them tell him things that came to his mind. Some things that came up while he was with his patients were problems such as resistence. This is when a patient would be unwilling to tell Freud something mainly because they were uncomfortable with that they had to say. Freud thought that resistence was good for the therapy because if someone was resisting from saying soemthing to him, then that must mean that he is getting close to the information or repressed thought that he wants to find out. Another technique that Freud used was dream analysis. Freud believed that dreams had a deeper meaning than just weird thoughts we have while we are asleep. Freud thought that dreams were repressed memories that we have, and that we can tap into those memories through dream analysis. Freud was the first person to test his theory on himself. Once again Freud believed that dreams were a direct association to repressed memoires of childhood sexual abuse. Freud then came out with a book called the Interpretation of Dream. I really liked this section because you get to see one of the legends of psychology, and how he started out. I like the way that he thinks, but some of the sex stuff is a little beyond me. That brings me to the second thing that I liked while reading the chapter and that was the section on the importance of sex.
The impotance of sex was an interesting section because it seemed flawed from the beggining, and it turned out to be so a the end. I knew that Freud was a funny thinker, but to come up with some of the stuff that he purposed to his peers is just absurd. In the previous section I had talked about how Freud belived that hysteria was reponse to childhood sexual abuse as a child in his patients. Well, Frued had gathered enough evidence to come up with his own theory on this topic. The theory that Freud came up with was the seduction hypothesis. Frued thought hysteria was the result of childhood sexual abuse by a parent or other adult, and becuase the child had no understanding of what was happening, the experience was forgotten and burried deep in the unconcious mind. Once the patient would go though puberity, and mature enough to know what had happened to them, then the repressed thought would come up as symptoms of hysteria. This sounds all good in theory, but as I continued to read I found out the flaws that went along with this theory. Freud's idea was shot down by his peers when he presented the information. Mainly because his patients stories did not stand up to other evidence. I am not sure what that means, but the book left it at that. I think what the book meant was that what about the nonsexual experiences such as illness, or a bad fall. Hysteria could easily come from things that did not have to do with sexual abuse. Freud soon ditched the theory and came up with Oedipal theory. The thing that the book mentioned that I found interesting was that Freud just was nto coming up with this stuff by himself. There were famous sexologists that had the same ideas as him during this time period. This is the main reason that Freud gets a bad wrap in most intro psych course because those books fail to mention that Freud was not the only one that had these ideas during this time period, but many people from different aspects of science had the same ideas as him. This brings me to the last thing that I found interesting about the chapter, and that was the section on the evolution of psychoanalysis.
The third section of this chapter that was interesting had to deal with the evolution of psychoanalysis. Freud had begun to develop his new theory of psychoanalysis, and that was metapsychology. Metapsychology is his general theory of human behavior and mental processes. This stuff was confusing to read about because i could not inderstand what the chapter had to say on this topic when the author discussed eros, thanaos, ego, id, and than superego. All of those terms seemed to jumble when the author was tryign to explain the theory. It would be awesome if we talked about this in class because I do not think I got it in my intro class, and I do not understand the concept now. However, I did like another section of this section, and that was in defense mechanisms. A defense mechanism is something that happens when our ego is under attack. When we feel anxiety we immediately use the mechanisms that Freud mentioned in the chapter. Repression is one of the mechanisms that Freud came up with. In repression, unwanted impulses are actively forced from awareness and into the unconcious. Another one of the mechanisms is called Projection. In projection, personal faults cannot be accepted, so they are attributed to some other person. An example that the book gave that helped me to understand projection was that if someone is hostile and cannot accept that they are hostile will convince themselves that someone close to them is the hostile one. Another one of the mechanisms is reaction formation. Reaction formation is when unacceptable impulses are repressed and replaced with the oppposite ones. An example that the book used is that if you have hatred to an unwanted child that you had, then you will repress that feeling, and you will never mention your hatred toward that unwanted child. The last mechanism that Freud mentioned was sublimination. A good example that the book used to help describe the defenition was that people who have agression in one area of their lifes will channel that agression into something else. For instance, sex into art because both of those things are creative. The very last paragraph of this section had to deal with his duaghter Anna. She followed in her fathers footsteps and became a psychologists as well. She made sure that her fatheres name was not tarnished, and worked on some of his theories in order to do so. She became very imporant in child psychoanaylsis. Sense children could not speak, she used things such as dolls as a way of communication.
Sense I did nto understand the section that talked about egos, I would have to say that it was the section that I found most interesting in this chapter. I could not establish the differences between the egos, and became frustrated when I tried to read about them. I will try to bring this up in the group discussion that we have next time in class whenver that may be. I would like to know more about this because it has a direct influence on the section that I enjoyed while reading the chapter. I feel that if I have an understanding on the section that I did not like from the chapter, then I will have a better understadning on the section that I did like. This is something that I would not do ny topical blog on for the reason that I would have no clue on how to start my research on it. This leads me to the next section of the blog and that it how this chapters helps me to understand the history of psychology.
This chapter helps me to understand the history of psychology because I got to read about Frued. Freud was a important man in the field of psychology because of his theories in psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis is a very interesting topic, and at the same time very confusing to read about because of the radical ideas that go along with. I got to read about Freud and his theories that he came up with, and how his theories were not the best, but some of them were. Without reading this chapter I would not know that Freud's ideas were the same as some other people living in this time period. I know now understand why Freud gets so much hatred towards him in most intro to psych books, and I can understand why. In the end, Freud was a very intelligent man that helped the expand the field of psychology with his believes in psychoanalysis.
A topic that I would like to learn more about would have to be Freud's daughter. It was a smaller section in the one of the sections that I found to be interesting. They did not talk enough about her other than that she worked hard to keep her fathers name in good holding. Also, that she was the first person to work on children with psychoanalysis. This was the interesting part for me because it would be interstign to read about some of the studies that she conducted on the children in order to figure out her research. It would be very interesting to do a topical blog on her life, and the work that she did throughout out it. I look forward to researching more about her this coming Thursday.
This chapter builds off the other chapters because it is the next step on our path to learning about all the areas of psychology. Last chapter had to deal mainly with behaviorism, and now as the timeline continues we arrived at Freud and his ideas on psychoanalysis. Freud is the first of the psychoanalytics so I am interested to see if there are any others that will follow him. Like the other chapters before this, psychologists have been building of the ideas of the psychologists before them, so I am interested to see who is the one that challenges or expands of Freud.
Some ideas that I had while reading this chapter mainly had to deal with Freud. I was interested to find out if Freud had any childhood sexual abuse as a child. I say this because while reading I could not help to think that this had occured in Frued's life. One does not simply come up with a theory that is this abstract without having gone through the experience himself. Maybe the Anne O experiements were am interested to know if maybe it is true or not.enough to make him think that hysteria was liked to childhood sexual abuse, but I just do not believe that. So that was my main curiousity while reading this chapter, and I
Terms: Freud, psychoanalysis, hysteria, Anna O case, free association, resistance, dream analysis, seduction hypothesis, Interpretation of dreams, metapsychology, thanaos, eros, ego, superego, id, anxiety, defense mechanism, projection, repression, reaction formation, sublimation, Anna Freud.
I really liked this chapter and thought it was really interesting. The first thing that I thought was the section on bloodletting. I'd heard of bloodletting before but really had no idea how common it used to be or that it was used for mental patients to "calm them down". I think it's actually a very amusing concept that getting rid of a patients blood would calm them down. It's even more amusing to think that it actually worked! The patients would calm down indefinitely, however, only because they were suffering from intense blood loss and had no energy to be anything but lightheaded and tired.
Another thing that I liked was the continuation of that section into the details of what I would definitely consider to be torturous; the invention of the "the tranquilizer". The machine is an extremely interesting concept and I'm sure made a lot of interesting breakthroughs of it's time, however, it seems a bit excessive and more traumatic than helpful to those of it's patients. The fact that a person is strapped down completely, is enough to mentally break someone down. I know from people in my personal life that you can never hold someone down when they are having an anxiety attack. It makes everything much much much worse, as I can imagine this did. Not only that, but the people have a weird box over their head and had no idea what it was going to do to them. Asylums are know today for having torturous methods, this was no different.
Something else that I really liked reading about was the Anna O. case. I've heard of this case before but it never ceases to interest me, simply because it makes so much sense. At the time I'm sure it was something that people were unaware could even happen considering they had less known information about the psyche. Also, the idea of catharsis is something very interesting, the fact that Anna O could've trace her symptoms back to a specific point nearly proved to her that she was describing her father, which released her from those symptoms.
I really found this chapter to be very interesting, however, if I had to pick a section that I found the least interesting it would be the section on clinical psychology before World War II. I really just throughout the chapter was written in a dull fashion and kind of went over a lot of things that seemed dull compared to the rest of the chapter.
The thing that I think we should take most out of this chapter is the idea of free association. I've been present during a session of free association and found it so interesting and something that all psych majors should experience. The patients that underwent this practice seemed instantly relieved as their desires and rages just all came out as if no one was listening, it was almost as if they were just thinking in their head, and speaking their complete thoughts.
I would really like to learn more about Freud's experiences with hysteria, more specifically seduction hypothesis. I don't believe this theory is something relevant but I don't fully understand it. Thus, I would like to learn more.
I think this chapter builds on the last chapter because it continues into a different type of psychology. We learned about behaviorism and we are now into clinical. It makes a lot of sense.
I had a few ideas while reading this chapter. Most revolved around the idea that Freud was an interesting guy who had very interesting ideas and I'm wondering how he wasn't thought insane for the time period.
Terms: Freud, clinical, behaviorism, hysteria, free association, Anna O, catharsis, tranquilizer, bloodletting,
The first thing I found interesting in this chapter was the section on Clifford Beers. Beers was a patient at mental institution after he tried to commit suicide and developed depression. He was in mental institutions for three years before he was deemed cured and allowed to leave. After this he decided to author a book discussing what life was like in a mental institution. This was important because it showed what life was like from the point of view of a patient, rather than a doctor visiting the sites. Beers also showed that mentally ill patients can be cured, something that was not widely believed at this time. Beers believed that most of the psychiatrist at the mental institutions were incompetent. He also discussed the day to day abuse suffered at the hands of the attendants.
This section interested me because it was a different perspective than was normally available at this time. I am also interested in what the conditions were like at this time because my great grandfather was hospitalized for mental illness when he was alive. He was a wealthy man, and was able to afford one of the better, more reputable institutions, but I wonder what the experience was like for him. I also feel bad that not everyone was allowed the quality of care he had, simply because they were not from wealthy families.
The second section I liked was the one on Franz Anton Mesmer. Mesmer was a doctor in Vienna who was interested in the effects of magnetism on humans. He believed that when magnetic forces were improperly aligned, people developed illnesses both mental and physical. To treat this, Mesmer used magnets, and later only his hands, to realign people. While being treated, his patients would fall into a trance-like state. When they returned to normal they felt better. Mesmer used this to prove his theory of animal magnetism. Mesmer was quite controversial, especially since he mostly worked with women, and was very hands on. He was exiled from Vienna, and opened a practice in Paris. Here he was even more popular and began to hold group meetings in order to help as many people as possible. Mesmer's technique is now called mesmerism, and is the root of the word mesmerize. It was eventually found that Mesmer's techniques had no root in science and he was largely discounted in the medical field.
I learned about Mesmer in my applied psychology class, but I always find him interesting. I wonder if he thought he was actually helping people, or if he was just in this for the money. I also kind of see him as taking advantage of the women he treated, touching them in ways that may not have been considered appropriate. This does seem to have been the start of different methods of treatment, however, and seems to have opened the door for hypnotism.
The third section I found interesting was the one on Breuer and the catharsis method. Joseph Breuer was famous for discovering the role of the inner ear in balance and equilibrium. He also treated an interesting case of hysteria. This was the Anna O. Case. Anna O. was a woman in her early twenties with many hysteric symptoms. She had intermittent paralysis on either side of her body, a nervous cough, visual and auditory problems, and had strange eating habits. She also would lose the ability to speak German, and would speak English instead. These problems seemed to start after she started giving long-term care to her dying father. Breuer used catharsis to treat Anna. He found that if he went back with her to the time at which each symptom occurred, he could help her re-experience and deal with the emotions that seemed to cause the problem. This would then free her of that particular symptom. Relief of these symptoms was often temporary, however.
This section interested me because I am always interested in case studies. I like learning about the various symptoms and illnesses people have and how they are treated. We know that taking care of a ailing loved one can be a very stressful time, and I believe these symptoms are caused by that. I also thought it was interesting that while the catharsis helped temporarily, the symptoms would come back.
One thing that I didn't really find interesting was the section on psychoanalysis in America. While psychoanalysis was popular in Europe, it took a while to catch on in the US.For a while, psychologists in the United States knew some information about psychoanalysis, but thought that Freud's methods were unscientific. Psychoanalysis was sometimes seen as more of a religion than a science. Freud, however, would attribute his attacker's responses to unconscious resistance, thereby supporting his concepts. Some psychologists tried to assimilate psychoanalysis by using terms more popular during the time period. Psychoanalysis did capture the minds of the public. The concept was published in Ladies Home Journal and The New Republic during the early 1900's. By the 1930's most medical school training did include Freud's psychoanalysis.
This section didn't really interest me because I don't like psychoanalysis. I have learned about Freud in almost every psych class I have taken and I am tired of him. I don't believe that psychoanalysis works and I wish we could just move on from it. I understand why it is important to learn about different theories and how they came about, but I've already learned so much about this one already.
I think the section about Clifford Beers and how people in mental hospitals were treated at this time in history will help me understand psychology the best. We have to look at how we treated the less fortunate in order to better see ourselves as people. I think it says a lot about the state of psychology at this time that we had people who needed help and left them in these miserable conditions.
I think this chapter builds on the previous ones in that earlier in the book we were discovering mental illnesses or personality traits, and now we are attempting to fix them or explain why they occur.
I'd like to learn more about how people were treated and what conditions were like in the institutions. I know the conditions depended a lot on the wealth of the family, but I'd like to read more stories about that sort of thing.
While reading this chapter I thought a lot about what it would be like to have a mental illness during this period of time. There really wasn't much in the way of medication or treatment, and you were basically put in a jail cell/hospital for the rest of your life. I kept trying to picture what it would have been like and thinking about how far we have come since then.
terms:
Clifford Beers, mental institutions, Mesmer, animal magnetism, mesmerism, hypnotism, Breuer, Catharsis Method, Anna O Case, catharsis, Freud, psychoanalysis
After reading chapter 12 something that I found interesting would have been reading some of Benjamin Rush’s treatment he had planned for the mentally ill. I found it interesting and very unsettling that he believed that removing diseases from people could be as simple as removing blood from their system. The belief was that there was hypertension in the brain’s blood vessels and if you removed some it would reduce tension from that person and make a more tranquil and peaceful person. The real reasoning for this was because when you removed enough of this person’s blood they would lose all energy from blood loss to be hyperactive and high strung. A good example was when a man was violent and Rush had performed forty-seven different bleedings and then pronounced the man cured. The man eventually relapsed and hung himself after the release. The positive side of this is that people were trying new things and trying to figure out how to cure people, even if their ideas seem insane now.
The second thing that I liked about this chapter was reading about the first asylums in the United States. Lots of theses asylums were private and nearly had a staff to patient ratio of about 2:1. This isn’t interesting to me. The interesting part that I find is how some rehabilitation places can sometimes have case managers that carry nearly hundreds of cases to keep track of. Even if the people back in the day had the wrong idea about how to cure someone at least they had the resources to give each patient the medical attention that they deserved instead of a fraction of their attention that has to be spread to a ton of patients. It’s kind of too bad how if you read on you see these good ideas for therapy of the mentally ill turn into what we have today due to overpopulation and lack of resources.
The final thing that I found interesting was reading about Franz Anton Mesmer and how he discovered what would later be named hypnosis. What was interesting about this was how he originally started out by thinking that the patient’s body was out of alignment and by using magnets he could bring it back to alignment and heal the patient of their illnesses. One funny thing was how he wanted to help the poor with his mesmerism so he magnetized a large oak tree in a Paris park and tied ropes to it to help people feel better of their illnesses. What was interesting about this was how he thought he was actually helping people when in reality he was using the power of suggestion to affect the human behavior and “cure” people. I honestly don’t see the problem in this because even though it really isn’t a real medicine I feel like it works for some people because it really doesn’t matter how you got healed, just that you got good effects from the treatment works for me.
One thing that I didn’t like about this chapter was just something that kind of freaked me out and that was the tranquilizer chair. One thing that I don’t like is being held against my will in a confined spot, I say confined because of the box on your head also doesn’t allow you to be able to see. The thought here was if you reduced movement you would reduce the pulse rate and calm agitated patients down. This just seems like something that would just agitate me even more and this just seems like cruel and unusual punishment to me.
The thing that I think will be most useful to us in this class will be the idea of showing where we came from. It is always good to see the past so you can build off of it and know what has been done and what doesn’t work so we can better improve our thinking about different rehabilitations. This chapter builds on the chapter before because it talks about behaviorism but it is a more specific behavior we are looking at. The chapter before was just on behaviorism history whereas this chapter is based on the certain behavior of mental illness and what has been done to cure that behavior. A topic that I would like to learn more about would be the different techniques that were used in insane asylums to help people calm down or cure them because I think that those would be very interesting to look at. When I read this chapter one thing that I mainly thought about was how the religious community in the past dealt with these people. The scientific community all thought it was something with the body or the mind which makes me curious to see what the church decides to do to these people and what they thought the cause of this behavior was.
Terms: Benjamin Rush, hypertension, blood vessels, bloodletting, asylums, United States, rehabilitation, mentally ill, Franz Anton Mesmer, hypnosis, mesmerism, magnetized, tranquilizer chair, behaviorism.
Chapter twelve, mental illness and its treatment, taught me a lot about psychology that I did not know. The three things that I found to be most interesting would be, the overall evolution of mesmerism and hypnosis, Freud’s development of theories, and the Anna O. story. The idea of Mesmer’s techniques was another aspect of our history that surprised me. He began with magnetic work then moved to believing he was the source for magnetic treatment. Also the idea of the tree that he would have patients go to for gaining of treatment is just bizarre. It was funny that they predicted that his work was sexist, and that it took so long for people to assume that. He was an open-minded psychologist that firmly tested his hypothesis. The movement towards hypnosis also intrigued me. I was surprised by the information on amputations and sugary done during transient states. My idea is that I don’t think this would work, I have been hypnotized and I don’t remember much but I I think I would feel surgery. I think his practice should have been shut down prior of when it was. The section on psychoanalysis development with Sigmund Freud was very interesting. Freud is such a huge aspect of psychology and I love learning about him. Creating psychoanalysis is technique that I can relate to the most. I find it amazing that they went from a crazy technique of hypnosis and mesmerism to something so simplistic that is used today. Free association is one of the main things I look forward to as a therapist. I can’t wait to hear peoples thoughts without any preparation and hearing some of their subconscious. My thoughts while reading this makes me want to analyze my own thoughts. The final aspect that interested me that is somewhat associated with psychoanalysis is the Anna O. story. This is a topic that has been brought up in many of my classes, but this is the first time that I have heard the entire story. The way he interpreted her with free association and learned so much about him. Anna took her psychological factors and turning them into physical symptoms. Her disorder seemed relevant to conversion disorder or somatization disorder. This case seems so far out, but yet obviously had a real feel to it to make such an impact. Freud s ability to gain knowledge about her past and pin point reasons for her actions inspires me. The area of the chapter that I found non-relevant is Freud’s followers: loyalty and dissent. I would have rather learned more about studies and theories that are relevant than who supported and who didn’t. Freud made a large impact on in psychology, and I just think the author could have found something more relevant to teach me! I would like to learn more about cases that Freud worked on with specific details. I wish I could have learned more about dream interpretation as well. Understanding Freud overall is a great way to help develop understanding in psychology. The human consciousness is a way into psychology that surrounds every area of study.
Key Terms: Free association, Freud, psychoanalysis, mesmerism, hypnosis, Meremer, magnetism
I found chapter 12 to overall be my favorite chapter so far. There were so many interesting things to read about it was hard to pick three.
However, the first thing I found interesting was the section on Phillipe Pinel and moral treatment. I found it interesting that he changed the way those being treated in mental hospitals were being treated and improved many things, such as nutrition, hygiene, and overall general living conditions. It was shocking to me to read about some of the conditions these people were living in due to their lack of abilities. I also found it interesting that he was the first to being early forms of reward and punishment ti bring order to the patients. I took Behavior Modifications so it was interesting to be able to use what I had learned in that class in understanding Pinel's ideas.
The second thing I found interesting was that hypnosis was formed from mesmerism. I always wondered how hypnosis began, wondering if it were by accident or on purpose. I also wondered if there was a lot of knowledge on this practice or if the first users just "winged it". So it was interesting to find that hyponsis was derived from a form of healing.
The last thing I found interesting was the case of Anna O created by Joseph Breuer. It was interesting to hear about this case, for there have been other cases similar to this one in the future of this event. The thing I found most interesting was the "damage" her time had done, and her lack of ability to pick up "normal functions". It amazes how time can effect so mnay things.
The one thing I disliked was learning about the treatment of those with mental disabilities. It was hard to read about this mistreatment these people were receiving solely because people didn't know how to work with them.
This chapter is important to understanding the history because it is beginning to get into the "healing process" of previously learned disorders. It is also continuing to build on behaviorism, although more so abnormal behaviors.
While reading this section I found myself connecting a lot of what I was reading to things I have learned in Biopsychology, especially when it came to the section about bloodletting. I remember this topic the most because I found it utterly disgusting and hard to believe that people found this to be healthy to an individual.
Overall I really enjoyed learning about ways people believed things could be healed and about specific cases.
Terms Used: Phillipe Pinel, moral treatment, reward, punishment, hypnosis, mesmerism, Anna O. case, Joseph Breuer, behaviorism, bloodletting
Seeing as the most well known historical psychotherapist is Sigmund Freud, and the whole field of psychology is almost plagued with misconceptions about his work, I am glad that this book spent a significant amount of time discussing other early psychologists. I have read so many things about Sigmund Freud and even wrote a paper last semester about why his work is mainly of historical interest. I tended to focus more on the other psychologists while reading this chapter.
I noticed many of the apparatuses used in early psychological treatment, and although they seemed barbaric, they were very interesting. Even though it may have helped to calm down agitated mental patients, Rush's tranquilizer chair seems like its primary goal was to protect other people from violent outbursts of the insane.
I liked the close-up on diagnosing mental illnesses. It is such a powerful manual it reminds me of the constitution or something. I like how the DSM-IV was used back when this book was written, and even though we were supposed to get a new one within the past few years, we are still using the DSM-IV.
I find it interesting that the "talking cure," which is arguably the only useful thing that came out of this primitive treatment, evolved from practices such as hypnosis. I also found it interesting that Freud didn't treat Anna O. I always thought that he did, but it turns out that Breuer was Anna O's therapist.
One important thing to learn from all of this is that even though Freud was not the god that many people think he was, these early clinical psychologists were at least trying to do something to help mentally ill people who were otherwise just cast away from society and locked up in places that were worse than prisons.
The first thing I found interesting was Sigmund Fred. I found this most interesting because I thought I knew quite a bit about Freud but there was much more in this chapter. I was first surprised to read that Freud was trained in neurology. Freud was most influenced in neurology by his contact and mentor, Ernst Brucke. After some private practice, Freud’s studies in neurology gave him interest in the treatment of hysteria. After some research in the topic, Freud learned of Anna O.’s case where it was found that hysteric symptoms were shown to be related to repressed memories. Freud believed that hysteric symptoms resulted from repressed trauma. Many things, including Freudian slips, can trigger hysterics.
The second thing I found interesting was Lightner Witmer. Witmer was most known for establishing the first clinic for the treatment of psychological disorders in the United States. In his clinic, it was focused on “psycho-educational” problem. These problems are similar to psychological, cognitive and behavioral problems related to school performance. Such problems could be treated with orthogenics.
One of the last things I found interesting was Franz Anton Mesmer. Mesmer believed that hysteria was a result of magnetic forces in the body. This treatment was called mesmerizing and eventually became known as hypnosis. Mesmerizing was soon used by John Elliotson as an anesthetic for surgery. It was found by Chacot that hypnotic effects were similar to the symptoms of hypnosis.
One thing that I found least interesting was the section on the early treatment of mental disorders. I found this least interesting for a very simple reason. I do not like hearing about how people will ill-treated for something they couldn’t help. This is something I have heard before. I know it was horrible and it’s sad to hear it over and over again. From this chapter, I find how hypnotism and Freud the most useful. I believe this because these topics are ones that are frequently discussed and it was nice to know more background information. I would like to Anton Mesmor.
Terms: Sigmund Freud, neurology, Ernst Brucke, hysteria, Anne O., Freudian slip, Lightner Witmer, psycho-educational, orthogentics, Franz Anton Mesmer, hypnosis, mesmerizing, John Elliotson
Oh boy, the wonderful world of treating mental illnesses. And by treating I mean doing evil things to people in hopes that it will “cure” them. I distinctly remember this part of into to psych because of how awful and wrenched it was. To think that for some point in time the cure for many mental illnesses was “bloodletting” or letting someone bleed to release the hypertension in the brain’s blood vessels. What a wonderful start to my blog post this week. It’s only looking up from here!
I’m not sure that I will be able to find “interesting” things in the sense that I did in previous chapters. In this chapter, my interesting things will be topics will probably all be morbid and not friendly. They will be things that are interesting, but not that I am interested in them. First thing I found interesting to read was actually double loaded. I was first interested in Mesmer and his work. The first thing I found interesting about this was the use of magnets to cure illness. I find it interesting because I’ve met people who believe that today (not sure if it is based on fact or word of mouth). I’ve been to a chiropractor and sat though his lecture on how he could heal some of my pain by holding a magnet near me while he cracked my back. It’s just crazy for me to think that it’s a similar theory used today as it was back in 17-something. Anyway, the other interesting part was hypnosis because I’m still not sure where I stand on that whole thing. I have been hypnotized 2 times and can’t really explain or understand what went on while I was hypnotized. It was all voluntary and very interesting, just rather odd.
The crazy part of mesmerism is that it worked (according to statements from the book). People could produce their own temporary anesthetic without taking medication. Now was this mind over matter, or an actual trance?
This idea of mesmerism had been transformed into what we now know as hypnotism. I guess we could even have it described as human suggestion. Human suggestion is used in experiments all the time, at least in social psychology. Even though mesmerism may have produced a phony-like science, it did help develop the phenomenon we know as human suggestion. With human suggestion, you can alter a person’s reality (to a point).
Who could forget good old Freud and his psychoanalysis? Everyone knows who Freud is and the basis of his work, such as the Oedipus and Electra complex. If he were alive today, people would probably discount all of his work due to its extreme sexuality. I really found Freud’s work very interesting, but not just his work, the sheer amount of work that he did was amazing. The man put out so many theories and people followed them almost blindly because he was believable. Many of his theories made sense, and the man knew how to get his point across. The book talks about Freud knowing Joseph Breuer, who is known for the discovery of catharsis. Catharsis is the interesting idea of letting emotions out rather than bottling them up. It can be healthy and unhealthy depending on how it is used. I found catharsis very interesting because I distinctly remember my parents teaching me ways to let my frustration out and not let it bottle up inside. I remember them telling me how it was way better and would make me happier overall, and I have to say from my experiences, that they are correct.
One thing I didn’t like or didn’t find interesting was the just having to set my mind back to the time period where humans who were mentally sick had absolutely not rights whatsoever. It honestly takes a toll on me and my temporary well-being. It’s a depressing mindset but I guess it sometimes has to be done to get the paper written. Aside from that, I had a lot of relatable things to my life in this chapter, which made is somewhat easy to read. It’s nice to be able to pick things out of a book and think “I know how I could apply that”.
Terms: mental illness, bloodletting, Mesmer, hypnosis, magnets, Freud, Oedipus and Electra complex.
I was very interested in the early life of Sigmund Freud and the dynamics of his family. Freud was his mother’s oldest child, he was born in Austria. It seemed that his family made many concessions for him because he was the oldest son of his two parents and also because he exhibited a high intelligence at an early age. Freud seemed very self-assured, in letters to his fiancé, written before he was even thirty years old, he predicted that he would be famously remembered. Freud was almost obsessive about the influence of sexuality on the human psyche, and his insistence that his theories were more important than ideas offered by his contemporaries caused him to lose many friends and associates. I was amazed to learn that Freud’s book The Psychopathology of Everyday Life was a book full of “Freudian slips”, because I had always thought that Freudian slip was coined in modern times. I thought it was funny that Feud had listed a lecturer’s mistake referring to the Breuer-Freudian theory in his book of subconscious slip ups because he thought that the lecturer did not agree with his ideas. This text made Freud seem like a prima donna who would eliminate dissenters from his inner circle, a tactic he may have learned as the spoiled first-born child of his parents. I find it interesting that a psychoanalyst could be so unaware of his own narcissistic behavior.
I was equally amazed to learn about Franz Anton Mesmer and the charismatic powers that he had to hypnotize his patients and make them forget their pains. If it were not for the advent of anesthesia, then the history of psychology may have taken a decidedly different turn. There were other notable psychologists adapting Mesmer’s techniques into their own practices. The power of suggestion was used to make impressionable patients forget their pains or their vices. This therapy later evolved into hypnosis, and a physician in Paris named Jean-Martin Charcot made a career of researching hypnotic therapy and lecturing about it to physicians and psychology students in the 1880s. Sigmund Freud was one of the physicians who travelled to Paris to hear Charcot lecture and demonstrate the power of hypnotic suggestion. There are still many people in our society who believe in hypnotherapy, and Charcot had even concluded that some people were more disposed to the power of suggestion than others. Charcot believed that suggestibility was an inherited trait.
I also enjoyed reading about Joseph Breuer’s method of catharsis, that is taking a patient back through the steps to the origins and onset of an illness because that is something that is still done today. Breuer believed that once the patient became aware of the root cause of symptoms of hysteria, then the patient could be counseled and cured of the psychosis. Breuer and Freud documented cases of hysteria that were cured through talking to their doctors in therapy and the book laid the groundwork of psychoanalysis. I thought it was amusing that Freud was able to find sexual undertones in psychoanalysis by saying that one of Breuer’s patients, Bertha Pappenheim (Anna O.), was sexually attracted to Breuer (her therapist) through transference. Freud believed that Anna had transferred her attachment to her father (who was deceased) onto Breuer. Breuer was married and understandably angry that Freud was trying to interject his sexual theories into Breuer’s catharsis methods and the text said that ultimately ended the association of the two physicians. Maybe it was all the theories about sexual desires and fixations that made Freud the most memorable psychoanalyst in history, because although he was not the only sex therapist of his time, it seems that he may have been the most vocal.
Freud lived in a time when women held a much lower status in society and he made what I would consider chauvinistic statements about women aspiring to produce male children being central to their existence. That part of the chapter made me think about how Sigmund Freud’s sister was not allowed to play the piano at home because the noise was disruptive to him. If that story is true then the Freud household was probably male-dominated and the females were in a more subservient status to the males. Still, Freud had a daughter named Anna with whom he co-authored books and developed theories. The text states that many of the theories concerning defense mechanisms and presented in the book were probably Anna Freud’s work.
I thought this chapter was very useful in demonstrating the development of methods which ultimately led to a division between psychoanalysis and psychology. The in-fighting between the doctors and psychologists (many of whom worked and trained in the same circles) caused Freud to form a group of his own followers, and other psychologists did the same. However, the psychologists and physicians in Freud’s inner circle did not seem allowed to voice their own opinions, and any type of dissent was met with rejection from Freud and the group. Freud’s theories about sexual motivations in relation to psychoses were questioned by many of his contemporaries, but he would not hear any ideas other than his own. I would like to read more about psychologists like Alfred Adler. In the text, it was said that Adler developed a model for the inferiority complex based on his own upbringing. After reading about Freud’s life, I wondered if a lot of his ideas came directly from his own upbringing and not from the observation and research other family groups.
Terminology:
Sigmund Freud, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, Freudian slips, Franz Anton Mesmer, mesmerism, hypnotism, Jean-Martin Charcot, Bertha Pappenheim, Annie O., Joseph Breuer, hysteria, Anna Freud, inferiority complex, sexual motivations, psychoses, psychoanalyst, defense mechanisms, method of catharsis, Alfred Adler
I really enjoyed reading this chapter. A lot of the things mentioned in the chapter were things that psychology students are at least somewhat familiar with-- they have either come across those names/terms in other courses or have read about it in their freetime. However, this book presents the information in a way that tests the assumptions we have about the way mentally ill patients used to be treated.
The first of these assumptions that has been tested and one that I found to be interesting was the idea that not all mentally ill patients were treated without compassion. When we think about the mentally ill of the past (100 or more years ago), we assume that they were thought by all to be demonic. While the idea that the mentally ill are not possessed by the devil was not uncontested in the past and has only become the popular theory relatively recently, there were people who took pity upon the mentally ill.
The second thing I found interesting about this chapter was Dorothea Dix. I thought it was very selfless of her to spend her life visiting mental institutions and inspecting them. Had she not protested the abuse, neglect, and lack of hygiene that residents of mental institutions faced, there would not have been any changes made in the way they were treated. Unfortunately, the same problems returned years later when the institutions became overcrowded, but the contribution was enormous for her time, especially as women faced great discrimination.
The last thing I found to be very interesting about chapter twelve was the section on the history of hypnosis. It's very interesting that Franz Anton Mesmer's findings arose by accident, as he was testing his theory of animal magnetism. I also think it's fascinating to think about the etymology of the word "mesmerized." Most people probably wouldn't associate the word with anything related to psychology, assuming that it probably just has Latin roots. The last thing about this section that I thought was interesting is how much hypnosis and mesmerism were contested. Although not as popular as it used to be and is primarily a pseudoscience, it has taught us much about the power of suggestion in affecting human behavior.
With the exception of the Anna O. case, I didn't particularly like the section on Sigmund Freud. Freud's psychoanalysis is one of the few things that laypeople can recall about psychology. As psychology students, we learn a lot of about his theories and how his therapy sessions were conducted. I found the section to be mundane because it was really nothing new to me.
I think that this chapter is very important in understanding the History of Psychology. Mental illnesses and psychopathology are a very prominent subject studied by psychology students and it's worth understanding how therapy has evolved over time.
For further research, I would be interested in either looking up more about the Anna O. case or more about the life of Dorothea Dix and what inspired her to do what she did.
mentally ill, mental institutions, Dorothea Dix, Franz Anton Mesmer, animal magnetism, mesmerism, hypnosis, power of suggestion, Sigmund Freud, Anna O.
RB
After reading through chapter 12, I felt that it was probably one of the most interesting and fun chapters that we have had so far. There was a lot of mental health related psychology topics that I did not know about. Right off the bat at the start of the chapter, I was intrigued by Philip Pinel and his humane reforms for mental institutions for both men and women. One of his first reforms was to have chains removed from patients who were being restrained. I personally never knew that they restrained the mentally ill with chains. I just always thought that they would lock them in a room. But I guess back then they didn’t know as much about mentally ill patients so its not totally unbelievable that they would do that to try to manage certain mentally ill patients. I also found it interesting how he used his “moral treatment” to improve the conditions for the mental patients, such as hygiene, nutrition, living conditions and behavior modification as well.
Another topic in this chapter that I found interesting also happened to be within the first couple pages. That topic was none other than Benjamin Rush. It was very eye opening to learn that Benjamin Rush was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, as well as being the surgeon general to the Continental Army during the American Revolution. To me, that was enough to make him the most interesting man in this chapter. Rush has been called the father of modern psychiatry through his books. Rush became a promoter for the common remedy of bloodletting for many illnesses, including mental illnesses as well. Along with that, Rush also created two devises to help clam patients. The first was the gyrator, which was a board on which the patient was spun to distribute the blood to the brain. The other was the tranquilizer, which was a chair that retrained the limbs and covered the head with a box. Both devices were to calm the blood.
The third thing that I found interesting was that of the case of Anna O. I have never heard of this case before and its details were very unusual to me. Anna O was a young woman who was suffering from symptoms of hysteria. She suffered from partial paralysis and would occasionally lose her ability to speak. What I found extremely unusual was that these symptoms were traced back to her father, whom she was taking care of when the symptoms first started occurring.
Throughout this chapter, there wasn’t anything that I didn’t really like. There were, however, some things that I would like to learn more about. In particular, I think I would like to learn more about this Anna O case with Joseph Breuer. I think this chapter branches off of past chapters by furthering subjects such as behaviorism and it also goes further into the subject of Sigmund Freud.
Terms:
Psychology, Philip Pinel, moral treatment, mental health, Benjamin Rush, psychiatry, bloodletting, gyrator, tranquilizer, Anna O, hysteria, Joseph Breuer
I liked the section on Lightner Witmer because he is credited with opening the first Psychology Clinic, but his clinic was not what a modern day clinic would be like. Witmer dealt mainly with learning disabilities and mental retardation. Witmer called his treatment program orthogenics. This treatment was good for treating cognitive and behavioral problems in the classroom.
The second part that I liked was the section on Sigmund Freud. I always enjoy learning about Freud's theories because, although they lack support, they are very interesting. I like Freud's theories simply from an academic standpoint. I do not think that I would ever pursue a career in psychoanalysis. I really like the concepts of free association and dream analysis. Freud believed that people repressed feelings to their subconscious minds. By using free association, the spouting of words until one reaches a specific outcome, or dream analysis, where dreams were analyzed for deeper meaning, Freud tried to bring unconscious thoughts to the conscious. I find dream analysis fascinating because some of the main components are that open containers/areas symbolize the uterus, that tall pointy objects symbolize penises, and that water symbolizes sex. In a way, Freud was a genius because who would have a dream without any of these things in them? He was able to make people keep coming back for more therapy.
The third thing that I liked was the case of Anna O. I liked this section because it was the beginning of psychoanalysis and it shows how both hypnosis and free association were used together. Anna O. was a woman who had many illnesses. Breuer found that Catharsis worked with her. Basically Anna would trace a specific symptom back to its original source and would then experience an emotional release that would relieve the symptom. Anna O. was also one of the first patients to experience "talk therapy."
I did not like the section on the early treatment of the mentally ill. I did not like the parts about mesmerism and hypnosis because not only was it hard to follow, it did not seem very scientific to me.
I think the most useful information in understanding the history of psychology at this point is how different this approach is to the behaviorist trend that was happening at around the same time. I think this is also how this chapter builds on previous chapters. It shows how vastly different the fields of psychology had developed and that they were branching out in different directions at the same time. There were now so many different types of psychology that people were able to divide and categorize it into different fields. Therefore, the histories of each branch would be different, and we would no longer be following one single subject.
I think I would like to learn more about Witmer. The information given does not really dig too deeply into what he stood for. I feel like there is a lot more to him than was let on in the book.
Terms: Lightner Witmer, Sigmund Freud, orthogenics, free association, dream analysis, hypnosis, Catharsis, talk therapy
I thought Franz Anton Mesmer was a very interesting person in this chapter and was also interested in his disease concept, that a healthy person has “properly aligned internal magnetic forces,” and a sick person (mentally or physically) is misaligned somehow. It surprised me that he first thought it was the magnets he was using to cure people, when really it was just the power of suggestion. It makes me wonder about the faith healers and others who claim to be able to cure disease through magical means in our current society. I wonder if there is some sort of physical or psychological event going on that we just haven’t discovered yet. It also made me think about whether or not magnetism does in fact have some effect on humans. I was recently watching a documentary on Netflix about hauntings. The owners of the household claimed a bed was haunted, but the going theory for scientists is that the material it is made out of emits magnetism that affects the chemistry in the human brain. Could this be real? Is it more likely than ghosts?
I found the whole subject of hypnosis to be interesting as well. It was cool to learn about the oak tree in Paris which Mesmer had magnetized so that those who couldn’t pay for his treatment could still get the benefits. It makes me think about the many artifacts and places in our world that people travel to touch in order to get better. John Elliotson was another prominent figure in the development of hypnosis. He was the first to use a stethoscope (which I was surprised to learn was a debate in itself; it seems so commonplace and useful now.) as well as the first to use hypnosis as a form of anesthesia, although he was not allowed to do so at the hospital where he was employed. It is hard for me to believe that hypnosis in any form could give a patient the ability to sit still and relaxed as a surgeon amputated their leg. It is also amazing to me that the mortality rate of surgery dropped from 40% without hypnosis to 5% with it. If this is true, and James Esdaile reported it is through the results of hundreds of surgery, I again wonder why we use so many chemical drugs when this may work as well.
On a separate note, I took me until the last paragraph on Mesmer to make the connection to the word mesmerize. I think it’s really interesting that something can seem so obvious yet go unnoticed.
I was surprised to learn that may of the ideas and theories that Freud is credited with were not his own. In all of the psychology classes I have taken, we have not talked in any detail (or possibly at all) about the people that influenced Freud including Charles Darwin, Ernst Brucke, Meynert, Charcot, Josef Breuer, among others. I was actually very unhappy to see that much of this chapter was about Freud and skimmed through most of it because it seems like we talk about the man in every psychology class ever, and then we recognize that nearly all of his theories make little sense.
What is the biological significance behind believing you will be healed? Is the belief that you will get better enough to change the outcome? If so, why isn’t the medical world using this phenomenon as a tool?
What is the history behind anesthesia and surgeries?
Terms: Franz Anton Mesmer, magnetism, mesmerism, hypnosis, power of suggestion, John Elliotson, anesthesia, James Esdaile, Freud, Charles Darwin, Ernst Brucke, Meynert, Charcot, Josef Breuer
The first thing I found interesting was the fact that changes to improve care for the mentally ill took part in the 1700’s and 1800’s. Frist starting with Phillipe Pinel who started the program ‘traitement moral’ which improved patient’s nutrition, hygiene and punishments, which really just took the previous treatments and made them more humane. Looking at history, I just thought it was interesting to see that mental states and treatment had been thought of many many years prior to what we’re learning throughout the rest of the chapter. Also included in the era was the term, bloodletting, I hadn’t really heard about this term especially used on mental patients, but I thought it was interesting and it had me thinking about what bloodletting could have lead into speaking on medical terms
The next thing I found interesting was Clifford Beers, he was a mental patient for three years and then ended up writing a book and was the cause of launching the mental hygiene movement. Here’s a man who was technically locked up, got out and then changed the entire form of mental health care. He brought to light of the treatment of patients by their staff, he had ideas of different treatments, who should be performing those treatment or experiments, and more importantly he brought up the idea that maybe history was wrong and the mentally ill could in fact be cured. I found Beers to be interesting mainly because he was an average person or even less than average in that time era considering he was in a mental hospital, but yet he influenced and changed a major field in psychology today.
The third thing I found to be interesting was the Anna O case, I’m not sure I had ever read about this case, at least I didn’t remember any of it. I found it to be intriguing in the fact that she had all these symptoms which today could be diagnosed as numerous things such as possibly even a tumor (given the limb movement loss, and food craving changes) but that really it was traced back to her father that she took care of when the problems actually started. And along with this study it was interesting to find that a lot of Freuds theories or studies weren’t actually his own, but really he just took a given concept or study and took it one step further.
This chapter demonstrated how psychology eventually was able to distinguish the difference of psychoanalysis and psychology. You had the psychologists and the doctors then you had the psychoanalytic, and each one thought the other group was wrong in their studies. This ultimately led to Freud starting his own group. Also looking at Freud, I had never done much reading on his actual background, and how he was raised. I think now being able to look at that and his theories I question if he actually based his findings from data and observations or if he was really applying what he knew from childhood or felt and coming up with theories for them ( perhaps he didn’t even realize this either).
Something I didn’t care for in the chapter was the criticism of Freud, today you almost here more about what he did wrong then just the fact of what he did and the time era in which he did it is truly amazing in its self. To me without Freud psychology might not be the same, he may have not been ‘correct’ but his theories make you think, even if youre thinking about why he’s wrong youre still taking into consideration the concepts he thought of and applying them to today or branching off from his ideas and figuring out what really is correct.
The chapter builds from the other chapters in the sense that clinical psychology, Freud, and psychopathology all evolved from the people and theories in learned throughout all the other chapters, the history of psychology is really just a series of building blocks. Also, chapter 12 is continues from chapter 11 because it’s focusing more on mental illness which was just starting to come about in chapter 11.
I would actually really like to learn more about the Anna O. case and see if there is possibly any more information regarding her situation and if there’s a similar study that her story can be compared to or other alternatives of her original diagnosis.
When I read the section on bloodletting, I couldn’t help but wonder how Rush would have thought that to calm a patient down, but more importantly could that concept have been the starting point to learn about blood transfusions, diseases in the blood, being able to use medicines in the blood, etc. Another thing that I read that I’ve read in previous chapters is the fact that many psychologists in the 1900-1950’s either came to America or some other safe place because of the WWII and Hitler’s reign, it just makes you wonder what would psychology be like today had those people not escaped, or what could psychology be today had it never happened.
Terms: Freud, clinical psychology, psychopathology, phillipe pinel, traitement royal, Clifford beers, bloodletting, Benjamin Rush, mental hygiene movement, Anna O. case, mental illness,
This chapter is one of the most interesting chapters to me so far. I have always been fascinated by the treatment of the mentally ill. After reading this chapter I found three things interesting. The first thing I found interesting was the part about Dorothea Dix. I learned some about her in some of my social work classes but I am still fascinated by her. She is one of the first people to really look at how the less fortunate and mentally ill were being treated in public institutions. She inspected many places where mentally ill were and found they were being treated no better than animals and she did something about it. The second thing that I found interesting was defense mechanisms. It made me think of the show Horders on TLC. It is a very psychological show and the people on that show have very sophisticated denial systems and they use their excessive amount of stuff as a defense mechanism. The third thing that I found interesting was word association. It amazes me sometime how I can think of a completely different subject just from one word. Or I will think of a song just from one word. It is interesting how you can tell the meaning of a word to someone just by the physical reaction after saying that word. The thing that I found least interesting in this chapter was the founding psychoanalysis with Sigmund Freud. I feel like I have heard it all before so it doesn’t really interest me anymore.
Even though I think it was the most uninteresting part of the chapter I think it is the most important part is the Sigmund Freud founding psychoanalysis. It is such an important and relevant part in psychology even now today. We still use his theories today. It doesn’t really build much on the previous chapters because that chapter was on behaviorism and this one is on a completely different subject. I would like to learn more about the treatment of the mentally ill in Dorothea Dix’s time. It sounds like they were treated very unfairly. It would be interesting to find out what they did as treatments for them. While reading this chapter I was thinking about what it would be like to be in a mental institute. I have never been in one and I don’t know how they run.
Terms: Dorothea Dix, defense mechanism, founding psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud
The first topic from chapter 12 was disturbing to learn about, because of society’s long history of cruel treatment to those who were considered different. Mental illness was misunderstood, and many people who were thought to have a “mentally illness” were forced into asylums. These asylums make me think of a mid-evil torture chamber disguised as an institution, where the patients are kept in chains and treated like prisoners. Sadly people living in poverty suffered the most inhumane treatment. Finally during the period of enlightenment many people began thinking about the well-being of others. However, it wouldn’t be until the late 18th century when French physician Phillipe Pinel came up with the concept of moral treatment. It was a concept that ensures better quality of nutrition, hygiene, and living conditions for any person that had to be institutionalized. Although the removal of chains only turned into other forms of restraints such as the straight jacket, the patients were starting to be treated more like human beings. The darkness in humanity was beginning to see the light that would forever enlighten our way of thinking.
The second interesting topic was Benjamin Rush (1745-1813), he was known as the “father of modern psychiatry.” He combined the scientific approach with the psychological approach. It was interesting to learn that when it came to mental illness Rush believed the illness was literally in the blood. Back then the only cure was a bloodletting technique to drain the excess blood out of patients. The tranquilizer is another device Rush created to help stop any physical movement in order to reduce the patient’s pulse. Although the device was standard procedure and was meant to help people I can’t stop thinking that the tranquilizer chair looks a lot like a person strapped to an electric chair.
The third interesting topic was Dorthea Dix (1802-1887), who helped to reform asylums. Before there were human rights there was Dorthea Dix, she was known as an “early crusader” when it came towards improving the care for many people deemed mentally ill. As an educator Dix was concerned with how less-fortunate members of society were being treated. Dix was determined to help improve the mistreatment and poor living conditions of public mental institutions, jails, and hospitals. It was interesting to learn that in 1841, her passion for helping others led her on an 18 month quest. Ultimately she discovered inhumane treatment through neglect and abuse towards certain members of society. Upset with what she saw, Dix was brave enough to take her complaint and present it to the Massachusetts legislature. Her bravery not only helped to improve the conditions of many institutions, but it also helped the mistreated and forgotten members of society.
This chapter relates with previous chapters by philosophically exploring psychological behavior in a scientific way. In other words it is the development of clinical psychology by focusing on mental behavior.
It would be interesting to learn more about Sigmund Freud and how he used dream analysis for exploring the subconscious mind.
Terms used: moral treatment, Benjamin Rush, bloodletting, the tranquilizer chair, Dorthea Dix
1)
I found it interesting the stigma’s people used to place upon individuals with some sort of mental illness. They classified them as deviant and even regarded them as devil or possessed by the devil. I couldn’t believe they went as far as to torture them and at times put them to death. Some were even chained to the walls for years. Another thing I found interesting regarded the belief that disease derived from abnormalities in ones blood and circulatory system so a common remedy was to remove diseased or excess blood, called bloodletting. I found it funny when the text added some humor concerning this stating that it worked as the patients were too weak to be hyperactive as they were losing so much blood. I could not believe some of the devices that were developed such as the tranquilizer chair. They all seemed so cruel. Figure 12.2 was cool to see with one of Kirkbrides designs laid out, allowing us to visualize what the text was talking about.
2)
I found it cool how the chapter discussed Benjamin Rush and his contribution to bringing medical approaches to the mentally ill but he was also a prominent signer of the Declaration of Independence. Even though this is a book of the history of psychology we run into a lot of importance history in general regarding aspects such as this and war, etc. I found it interesting that there were very few doctors of the Benjamin Rush era that actually had university training in medicine. When reading about Dix I thought it was awesome that she was able to do so much as she was a women. We’ve read before about all of the struggled they faced and beliefs people had that women were not worth listening to so it was nice seeing that she overcame that and was able to do so much.
3)
Beer’s had an interesting story. He obviously had much intelligence, attending Yale and gaining a responsible position at a New York City insurance company but made his way into a mental institution after depression. He however was able to write about his experiences and even founded the National Committee for mental hygiene. Another thing I found interesting was when the text discussed Mesmer and how he encountered many high social circles with one of his friends including the famous composer Mozart! The section on Mesmer and mesmerism was very interesting and entertaining especially when it talked about his belief that he had magnetic powers himself and became convinced that he was quite special! He even magnetized a large oak tree in Paris where those in need could go and receive some benefit by holding onto ropes attached to the tree. When discussing Elliotson and mesmerism it stated that he was the inventor of the stethoscope!
4)
I found most of this chapter extremely interesting. A lot of it included information regarding Freud which I could read about for days! If I had to pick one thing that was the least interesting to me it would be the section on hypnotism controversies became confusing. It discussed Charot looking into hypnosis and looking at things such as underlying pathology, underlying hysteric tendencies and inherited nervous system disorder.
5)
This chapter discussed so much that is useful in understanding the history of psychology. It talked about Pinel and how he is credit for bringing the concept of reform into institutions where the mentally ill were housed. It was his efforts that provided a clear example of the combined effects of an enlightened approach to insanity. His reforms united the enlightenment faith in progress and the revolutionary desire to liberate the oppressed. Also William Tukes York retreat became the model for at least half of the private mental hospitals developed within the United States in the first quarter of the 19th century. The person credited with being the first in America to bring a medical approach to the treatment of mentally ill was Benjamin Rush.
Another thing I found useful was learning about the Kirkbride design concerning institutions. He established the standard that was widely copied in the second half of the 19th century. Also the text discussed Dix and how her efforts played a role in the creation of 47 mental hospitals and schools for the feebleminded. Reading about the development of the DSM was very informative and useful as well. Kraeplin provided the first comprehensive description of the disorder that is today known as bipolar disorder. This chapter included a lot of information on Mesmer which was useful. He created the first version perhaps of group therapy. Reading about studies on hysteria by Breuer and Freud was useful. Their book is often considered the founding event for psychoanalysis. Freud discovered a technique that became the centerpiece of psychoanalytic practice, free association and resistance.
6)
This chapter mentioned chapter three and the hallmark of enlightenment thinking as a belief in ideas of progress and reform with a strong faith in science’s ability to improve society. Also this chapter mentioned Wundt who we have read about before as well as Emil Kraeplin who used some of what he learned in Wundt’s lab to provide insight into a disorder he named dementia praecox which is today schizophrenia. Another individual discussed was Sigmund Freud who has come up a couple times within our readings. It discussed his invention of psychoanalysis. It mentioned Freud and his developments of an important research technique for staining nerve fibers which was similar to the stains developed by Golgi and Ramon y Cajal described in chapter three. It also related to chapter five discussing Freud’s research having strong evolutionary implications. Darwin had influenced Freud quite a bit. Darwin’s basic insight that human nature is rooted in its animal past provided support for Freud’s belief about the importance of biological instincts in motivating behavior and that sex is at the core of evolutionary theory. As we recall from chapter six, Hall’s great range of interests included the study of children and adolescents, including their sexual development. He described Breuer and Freud’s work on hysteria here. This chapter also mentioned Titchener, Cattell, James and Goddard, all who we have read before in previous chapters.
7)
I would look more into Freud. He is such an interesting person and I always get excited when we get to learn more about him in different classes. This chapter discussed myths about Freud which I really enjoyed. I found it interesting how he destroyed papers and their correspondence, making it difficult for people to trace the roots of his ideas. His theories of attachment were discussed a bit throughout the chapter as well which I have always found very interesting as well. I like how it went into depth discussing how his mother was twenty years younger than his father, playing a role in his later thinking about parent child relationships. He just seems like a very unique individual all around so looking more into his life and theories would be fun.
8)
The chapter discussed problems regarding funding for mental institutions as well as overcrowd. I know a lot of this still happens today which is why its easier to just put the mentally ill away in prison. I watched a video about this for a psychology and law class. Dorthea Dix witnessed a lot of abuse and neglect on her journey and this as well was seen in our videos we watched with guards, etc being terribly mean to the mentally ill inmates. It’s sad that stuff like this still goes on today. I had heard about Dix in courses such as social policies so it was interesting to read more about her within the chapter and see all that she did with advocating for the mentally ill. Many of the individuals we see go to medical school and end up having no intention of practicing medicine. This was discussed again in this chapter. Freud and Breuer seemed to have such a long and strong relationship, working together on so much and contributing a lot to the field together. I was shock when I read that this was ruined by Breuer rejecting Freud’s argument that hysteria had sexual origins and that this was not the only time his insistence on the important of sexual motivation cost him a colleague.
9) Terminology:
Bloodletting, Dementia Praecox, Mesmerism, Hypnotism, Hysteria, Free Association, Resistance.