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Categorization of Mental Illnesses by Najab Ud-din
by Meam Wye
Medieval Christian physicians in Europe believed that Demonic Possession (control over a human form by a demon) was the explanation for the mental illnesses and as such till 18th century mentally ill patients were subjected to many tortuous inhuman treatments that included whipping,bloodletting and starvation! On the other hand, Muslim physicians combined psychological methods and physiological explanations for the medical treatment of mentally ill patients several centuries before.
One of the many great worsk in Psychology is that by the Muslim physician and psychological thinker Najab ud-din Unhammad (870-925) who classified mental disorders in nine major categories. He described in detail a total of 30 different mental illnesses. Some of the categories he first described included obsessive-compulsive disorders, delusional disorders, degenerative diseases, involutional melancholia, and states of abnormal excitement. The mental illnesses first described by him include agitated depression, neurosis, priapism and sexual impotence (Nafkhae Malikholia), psychosis (Kutrib), and mania (Dual-Kulb).
Due to his categorization of mental illnesses in the tenth century, Najab is regarded as pioneer in the field of Nosology - a branch of medicine that deals with classification of diseases.
In Europe, the work in nosolgy was started in the 18th century by Carolus Linnaeus, Francois Boissier de Sauvages, and Phillipe Pinel.
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February 19, 2010 2:24 AM
Najab was right all along! In medieval times, it is strongly thought that most people who were called witches actually had bipolar disorder and/or other similar mental illness.
It's so sad to me to know how people horribly suffered b/c they were different and others didn't understand them and the truth was discovered but they weren't ready for it.
how people looked upon and made suffer just b/c they were different and didn't understand them.
how bad it was for people who were different and