Did they used to be focused on things like the humors and stuff like that? Was hypochondria/germophobia not really a thing before germ theory? Are there any other disorders that have changed/presented differently due to new widespread knowledge about the world?
In: Biology
Hypochondria itself used to be, according to a 1765 text by Robert Whytt, the male equivalent of Hysteria. Hypochondria arose from the hypochondriac region (the area just under the ribs, Whytt identifies it as the alimentary canal), hysteria arose from an ‘unsound womb’.
The hypochondriac and hysteric disorders can be reduced to two main categories:
* A too great delicacy and sensibility of the whole nervous system
* This can arise from being frequently ill, haemorrhages, fatigue, excessive grief, luxurious living, and want of exercise
* An uncommon weakness or a depraved or unnatural feeling in some of the organs.
Such people have a greater sensitivity in their nervous system, and so they suffer ailments “from causes too slight to make any remarkable impression on those of firmer nerves”.
Now in Whytts text, Hypochondria and Hysteria primarily relate to actual physical symptoms – what we’d now refer to as things like postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, polydipsia, vertigo, migraine, things like that. There’s also one case that sounds a lot like type 1 diabetes.
He does though describe “low spirits” including mania and melancholy – these “may be frequently owing to some morbid matter in the blood, flatulent and improper aliments, or other causes affecting the stomach and bowels” and that it is “the nature of the obstructing matter or morbid state of the nerves of those viscera” that causes the symptoms.
His cures for Low Spirits, if you’re curious include:
* Exercise and cold baths (“the best remedies”)
* When owing to the weak state of the nerves of the stomach: a tincture of bark and bitters, spring water that contains iron, a proper diet, and riding.
* When from obstructions in the viscera, or foulness in the bowels: “aloetic purges” (laxatives), water from Harrowgate, England; salt of tartar
* When caused by loss of periods or by haemorrhoids: bloodletting
* When caused by excessive grief or distress of the mind: agreeable company, daily exericise (“especially travelling”), and a variety of amusements.
TLDR: at least in 1765, they believed that anxiety and mental health disorders arose from the gastrointestinal system
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