Melancholia before the twentieth century: fear and sorrow or partial insanity?

2015/02/03 by Diogo Telles‐Correia, João Gama Marques · 3 citations
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · #Borges, Kipling, and Jewish Identity #Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices #Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes

paper · pdf · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00081

openalex publication_date 2015/02/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

Throughout the history of psychopathology, several meanings have been assigned to the term melancholia. The main ones were related to affective disorders (fear and sadness) and abnormal beliefs. At the time of Hippocrates melancholia was regarded mainly in its affective component. Since that time, and until the eighteenth century, authors and opinions have been divided, with both aspects (affective disorders and abnormal beliefs), being valued. Finally, in the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries, with Pinel at its peak, melancholia becomes exclusively a synonym of abnormal beliefs. At the turn of the nineteenth to the twentieth century, the affective component returns as the main aspect characterizing melancholia.

Cited by

• The Origin of Our Modern Concept of Depression—The History of Melancholia From 1780-1880
• Melancholia [wikipedia]
• Mental illness in ancient Rome [wikipedia]

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