Ancient and Historical Medical Texts in Translation: Mental Health

This book examines the multifaceted relationship between Buddhism and medicine, focusing on modern and contemporary texts from across the Buddhist world, covering the period from 1600 to the present. It compiles translations and insights from over 40 scholars, exploring themes such as colonialism, science, globalization, and changes in tradition. Organized thematically, the book provides historical and cultural context for each text, with an introduction, glossary, and geographical appendix to guide readers through the subject matter.

**note where in the set mental issues are ds

Chapter 16: Mental illness

On the Nature of Man: Look for passages describing “frenzy” (mania) or “melancholy” (melancholia)
Regimen in Acute Diseases (in Volume 2): Mentions behavioral and dietary interventions for mental disturbances.
Epidemics (in Volume 1): Some case reports include patients with mental symptoms like delirium or mania.
On Diseases of Women (in Volume 11): Early references to hysteria and other “female” mental disorders.

**note mental health locations

Provides an introduction to mental health, and how public opinion has fluctuated on mental health throughout its history.

Index at the back of volume 3 searches all volumes.
Look for terms such as: anxiety, anger, brain, melancholia, etc.
Use secondary literature to find references to passages in Galen's work - then find them and read relevant sections.

**Make notations about which volumes contain mental health

Use index at the back of the book to look up terms such as anxiety, melancholia, etc.
Use secondary literature to find references to passages in Galen's work - then find them and read relevant sections.

A substantial portion of the book addresses mental hygiene, which Tarbell treats as equally important as physical care. He argues that emotional balance, positive habits of thought, and avoidance of stressors are essential to preventing disease. Poor mental states, he suggests, weaken the body’s resilience and invite illness. To support overall health, Tarbell encourages disciplined routines, moral conduct, and environments that promote calm and self-control—reflecting the era’s belief in strong links between character and well-being. Overall, the book functions as both a health manual and a moral guide, offering readers a framework for living in a way that safeguards both body and mind.

**find mental health including mental disturbances linked to reproductive or humoral imbalance.

Qi, emotions, and mental disturbances; traditional Chinese medicine

The book traces why depression rates have surged over the past 50 years despite stable human biology, examining historical shifts in social, cultural, and environmental conditions. It situates modern depression within broader societal change rather than purely medical causes.

The book charts how 19th-century English and Irish prison regimes—marked by isolation and hard labor—fueled rising inmate mental disorder. Using archival sources, it details medical officers’ struggles to identify and manage illness and shows how punitive systems historically worsened prisoners’ mental health.

The history of lobotomy shows how tens of thousands underwent radical brain surgery in the 1940s–50s, driven by professional rivalries and competing theories of mental illness. It illustrates the dangers of untested therapies and how medical, psychiatric, and surgical conflicts shaped treatment choices.

The book traces the history of insane asylums from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, exploring changing definitions of madness, treatments, and institutional structures. It highlights how care varied by gender and class, reforms in the Enlightenment and Victorian eras, and the legacy of asylums today.

The book highlights the rich, often overlooked psychological insights in early Hippocratic medical texts, showing their sophistication and influence on later psychiatry. It connects ancient medical thought to modern mental-health debates, stressing its lasting relevance.

The history of insanity shows shifting ideas about its causes, from demonic possession and humoral imbalance to brain malfunction, and a wide range of treatments—from trepanation and exorcism to asylums, shock therapy, psychoanalysis, and modern psychotropic drugs—reflecting cultural as well as medical perspectives.

The book reveals how 19th-century English families actively managed madness at home, challenging the idea that care shifted entirely to asylums. Using case histories and legal records, it shows the family’s central historical role in shaping care practices and even the rise of psychiatry.

Drawing on 300 civil and criminal cases over four centuries, this study reveals how Tuscan families, courts, and physicians managed mental illness through cooperation and conflict. It traces shifting views from household care to medicalization, emphasizing negotiation over state control.

The volume examines how late-medieval Europeans (1300–1500) understood and managed mental disorder through religion, magic, medicine, and daily practice. It highlights the historical interplay of lay and elite approaches across Western Europe, comparing Northern and Mediterranean traditions.

The volume examines mental health, melancholy, and well-being from the early Middle Ages to the eighteenth century, exploring medical, mystical, and artistic approaches. It highlights how premodern ideas—though speculative—offer valuable insights and parallels for understanding mind, body, and spirituality today.

The book charts how medical writers from the early Roman Empire to the 7th century CE conceptualized mental illness, tracing evolving views of mind and pathology. It situates figures from Galen to lesser-known authors within their historical medical, philosophical, and theological contexts.

The book traces six centuries of British beliefs linking women’s mental illness to gender, from medieval demonic possession to Puritan witchcraft, Georgian “nerves,” and Victorian confinement, revealing how misogynistic medical and cultural traditions historically shaped these diagnoses.

The book traces the evolution of mental-illness care from early madhouses to reform-era asylums and modern mental hospitals, showing how shifting beliefs—social, medical, and moral—shaped treatment. Archival photos and art deepen its historical portrait of these changing institutions.

The book traces three millennia of mental healing, showing how cultures linked mind and body and used suggestion, faith, and spiritual practices to treat emotional and physical ailments. It highlights the historical interplay of religion, culture, and therapeutic techniques in shaping approaches to mental health.