[Rank and shape of the therapy of mental diseases within popular medicine of early modern time: the instance of the dukedom of Styria].
The article intends to revise the traditional picture of attitudes towards mental illnesses among popular healers and medical "laymen" in early modern time, at which it relies on a systematical examination of popular medical manuscripts preserved in the archive of the province of Styria in Austria. It was-- and is--a quite common belief, that popular medical treatment (here defined as treatment not performed by officially recognized and systematically trained experts like physicians, surgeons and chemists) mainly was based on communicating with the "supernatural", especially, when psychopathological phenomena were regarded; nevertheless it can be shown that this was not the case, at least not within the investigated region. Yet the impression, that popular medicine did not pay a lot of attention towards mental diseases in general, is supported by the analyses of the pertinent Styrian sources: Out of 13 relevant manuscripts only 6 contain pertinent prescriptions at all; and though there are thousands of prescriptions altogether, only 32 refer clearly to the psychiatric domain. The diagnostic terms used in that texts, moreover, often correspond to those of German-language representations of academic medicine of the same time ("Unsinnigkeyt" etc.). As far as the effects of the existing preparations are concerned, an investigation of their elements shows, that quite a lot of them may well have been of considerable therapeutical value, at least in fighting certain symptoms, like insomnia, restlessness and anxiety, maybe also lethargic states. This is also true for the famous 'Granatapfel' of the Duchess Eleonora Maria Rosalia (which partly originates from Styria). Singular medicaments even may have been appropriate for a causal therapy in somatically based mental diseases like "pellagra".
Watzka
Carlos
C
carlos-watzka@inode.at
D001317:Austria; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D008519:Medicine, Traditional / Q000266:history*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000266:history* / Q000628:therapy