Mental Health: A Stigma for Past, Present and Future

Abstract

The history of mental health care reflects a dynamic interaction among scientific knowledge, cultural values, religious beliefs, and political power. Mental health in ancient period was understood considering superstations and then to environment. Middle Ages in mental health was foundation of humanitarian reforms. The modern period encounters renaissance in mental health. Across time, explanations of mental illness have varied according to broader social conditions, from early spiritual and communal healing practices to medieval theological clarifications, renaissance humanism, institutional reform movements, and the emergence of modern psychiatry.