I read mental health articles and sometimes other mental health blogs online, and in almost every comment section, I see something like the above mentioned statements. Most recently, a dear friend of mine told me that someone actually said something similar to the above mentioned statements to her. Every time I see or hear something like that, I am filled with this Hulk-like rage, and as my blood boils, I want to go on an educational rampage (okay...and maybe I want to punch the person in the face, but I wouldn't actually do that. They can't learn with a busted up face...)
The idea that mental health conditions didn't exist throughout history is simply incorrect. Mental health conditions have existed since humans have existed. Our scientific knowledge has only recently become advanced enough to allow doctors to recognize mental health conditions for what they truly are (an unwell brain) instead of seeing them for what they aren't (demonic possession, witchcraft, punishment from an angry god, or cowardice).
As far back as the ancient Greeks, research has shown the existence of mental health conditions. Back then, it was thought to be one of the four bodily humors out of balance (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, or black bile). Some people were bled or given strange concoctions to treat the out of balance humor, which didn't actually help.
The Salem Witch trials were brought about because some women and men behaved in ways that didn't fit with the societal definition of "normal" behavior. Some of these "witches" were more than likely suffering with some mental health condition. They were branded a witch or someone possessed by the devil or some other demon. (Others had some physical deformity or something non-mental health-related.) Treatment included prayer and other religious practices, but you can't pray away a mental health condition. Then they were exorcised and/or burned at the stake.
Then asylums sprang up all over the place. People that behaved strangely, exhibited criminal behavior, or even "hysterical" or headstrong housewives were packed off into these asylums where they were often chained to walls, strapped to beds, and generally kept out of society.
During World War I, it was noticed that soldiers exposed to the traumas of war behaved strangely. Some even tried to run away from military service. Many were executed by firing squad for cowardice. They had Shell Shock, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, as it's known today. These men weren't weak. Would you be completely fine if you saw someone take a bayonet to the face, heard their blood-curdling scream, and then had to yank your weapon out of their face and go on to the next guy? Or do you think something like that might give you nightmares and maybe make you shake uncontrollably every time you had to pick up your weapon? Those soldiers weren't cowards, they had just endured the stress and trauma of war, and it had wreaked havoc on their brains.
Mental health conditions aren't recent made up explanations for why a person is lazy, too sensitive, or weak. Mental health conditions are real medical conditions caused by a brain that is unhealthy. Why didn't people recognize this earlier, you ask. Science. Science hadn't advanced enough until recent history to recognize mental health conditions, but that doesn't mean they are any less real than cancer or diabetes.
If the person still doesn't think mental health conditions are real because "Science can't just do..." Kindly remind them that the Earth is no longer thought to be flat, that Pluto is no longer considered a planet, and that smoking cigarettes is now known to cause cancer thanks to new scientific knowledge. Science changes things, and scientists and doctors make new discoveries all the time. Recognizing and treating mental health conditions is no exception. Science debunked your "in the old days" argument.
I'll end with this: The argument that mental health conditions didn't exist back in the old days is not a valid argument. Are you also going to argue that the Earth is flat based on the biblical phrase "at the four corners of the Earth", or that Pluto is still a planet? You wouldn't tell someone with diabetes that diabetes wasn't real because it wasn't recognized in the Middle Ages, would you? If you wouldn't argue about those scientific advances, why is mental health any different? Stop and ask yourself why you view mental health conditions so differently. The answer is simple: stigma and inadequate information. Please, do some research, ask some questions, before you make something that someone struggles with every day seem like nothing.
For more information: If you don't want to just Google questions.
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http://nobaproject.com/modules/history-of-mental-illness
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