It All Happened in Your Mind

Analyzing the ancient history of teaching psychology is a rather difficult task since psychology wasn’t even recognized as a science until a man named Wilhelm Wundt started researching it in 1879. The first professors of modern psychology didn’t start appearing until 1888, when James Cattell was hired at the University of Pennsylvania. Slowly however, the field of psychology took off and teaching psychology became more important, especially as different types of psychology were developed. (for more information about the different types see Information). There was a brief stint in WWII where psychology was halted in Europe due to Nazi persecution, but other than that it has been a steadily growing field.

What existed of psychology in Greece and Rome was actually a branch of philosophy, not a separate science. Plato even had some input on mood psychology in his teachings about the implementation of music therapy. They even used music for medicinal purposes and were very careful as to what music citizens could listen to. However, there really weren’t any psychology professors in ancient Greece or Rome. Philosophers of the day may have considered the psychological state of their audience and even, especially in Socrates’ case, manipulated the psyche of the people they had debates with. They may have even passed these techniques onto their students in their schools of philosophy. In this way, they were almost teaching psychology without actually calling it psychology. Other than the philosophical elements of psychology, it is interesting to note that Plato believed that the brain is the center of mental processes, whereas Aristotle believed the center was the heart.

Medieval Catholics treated mental illnesses as demonic possessions and curses from God. What little care the mentally ill got was reduced to exorcisms and torture in attempt to rid the body of the demons said to be possessing it. The education aspect of psychology would have consisted of teaching priests and doctors how to drill holes in mentally unstable patients’ heads in order to “release the demons inside” or perhaps teaching them the proper technique as to how to beat a mentally instable person so severely that the demon will not be willing to stay in such a pained body. Medieval psychology was not a very scientific nor humane practice.

Luckily for our day we understand the chemical and genetic causes of mental illnesses to the point of being able to treat and care for those afflicted. We have discovered that emotional problems are real concerns that can be addressed through therapy and the medical model. We acknowledge that mental illnesses should be treated by trained professionals who have gone to school and become educated in their field and we know that we need psychology professors to educate budding psychologists and therapists.

Robinson, Daniel N. (n.d.). An Intellectual History of Psychology. Available from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=VPJRgc_irPsC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=ancient+roman+psychology&ots=d0dXafgLA9&sig=XehjBcvCNQ_2LkMGooh-8vtvX1A#v=snippet&q=greek%20psychology&f=false

Discovering Psychology. (2001). History of Psychology. Retrieved from http://www.learner.org/series/discoveringpsychology/history/history_nonflash.htm

Myers, David G. (2013). Psychology. Holland, Michigan: Worth.