What is melancholy? The meaning of the word, synonyms and types of melancholy

The word melanncholia has Greek roots (chole - bile, mélas - black). Melancholy is a mental disorder , accompanied by an oppressed mood. It used to be called depression.

A bit of history

When did the notion of "melancholy" first appear? The meaning of the word, as already said, is determined by Greek roots. For the first time the description of the state occurs in Homer in the Iliad, where it was told about the wanderings of Bellerophon along the Alei field. Pythagoras of Samos gave recommendations when depression came. In particular, in his writings, he spoke about the fact that in anger or sadness, people should leave people and, left alone, "digest" the sensations, coming to calm. Pythagoras was the first to prescribe music therapy. In the hours of despondency, he recommended listening to music - Hesiod's hymns. Democritus advised to analyze his life and contemplate the world, when a person was advancing with melancholy (synonyms for the concept - oppression, depression, depression). For a long period, there was no clear definition of the condition.

Who first gave a definition of the state?

For the first time I tried to determine what melancholy is, Hippocrates. In his writings, there are two concepts by which he attempted to explain this state. First, Hippocrates called melancholic one of the temperaments of people, in the body of which a lot of bile accumulated.

In his opinion, a person who is characterized by such a state avoids society and light, he constantly faces dangers. In addition, such people constantly complain of pain in the abdomen, "as if they are pricked with a lot of needles." Talking about what is melancholy, Hippocrates linked this condition with a prolonged illness. He also described some of the symptoms: insomnia, aversion to food, anxiety, irritability. It should be said that the hypothesis that provoking factors should be sought in the work of the brain was advanced by the predecessors of Hippocrates. But it was he who wrote down that all complaints and dissatisfactions sit in my head. It is from this that a person becomes insane, embracing fear or anxiety.

In whose other works is the concept of melanncholia mentioned?

Many philosophers talked about what melancholy is. For example, in his writings Aristotle asked the question: "Why was it typical for persons who shone in public administration or creativity to frequent being in a depressed state?" Some suffered from the spillage of bile (Hercules for example). He, as contemporaries believed, was a melancholic, and in his name the ancients called Hercules disease. In the writings of Plato there are several definitions of the oppressed state. Arguing about what is melancholy, the philosopher spoke about a certain state of mania. It could manifest itself in the form of madness, rabies or inspiration and ecstasy. In the latter case, Plato spoke of the "correct" frenzy emanating from the muses. In other words, depression, in his opinion, gave poetic inspiration and pointed to the advantages of a person capable of staying in such a state, before other, ordinary people, who are characterized by worldly rationality. Avicenna also gave his definition of what melancholy is. In his writings, he called this state evasion towards disorder, corruption, fear. Determine the state could be from constant obsessions, excessive thoughtfulness, a look directed to the ground or to one thing. As signs, Avicenna also refers to sadness on the face and insomnia.

Modern classification of mental pathologies

The disease can occur at different ages. However, people of older and older age are most susceptible to mental disorders. In this case, pathologies can provoke or not provoke dementia. In medicine, there are senile and involutional psychoses. In the first case, the disease develops on the basis of the destructive process occurring in the brain. It is accompanied by gross violations of intelligence.

Involutional diseases

Such pathologies include disorders that do not lead to dementia. Their development is promoted by a special personality warehouse - with signs of rigidity, suspiciousness, anxiety. As provoking factors, the preceding somatic pathologies, psychotraumatic situations may act. Involutional melancholia is characteristic of women after menopause (hormonal changes in the body). A prolonged anxious-delusional or anxious depression occurs, as a rule, at the age of 50-65 years.

Treatment

In ancient Rome, therapeutic measures consisted of bleeding. However, if the patient was contraindicated because of poor health, then emetic was prescribed. The patient was also recommended rubbing the whole body, laxatives. The doctors of antiquity sought during the treatment to inspire the patient with cheerfulness of mind. One of the most effective methods was conversations with a melancholic on topics that used to interest him. Also, patricians practiced no less effective way to get rid of the ailment - entertainment with sleep deprivation.

Therapeutic methods used from the XVIII to the XX century

In Germany, the melancholy was treated in a very strange way. The patient was tied to a rotating wheel, assuming that the centrifugal force would remove the "puddock from the shoulders", "the lead weight from the limbs." It should, however, be said that before the twentieth century, patients who had come to psychiatrists did not stand on ceremony. At that time, enough cruel methods were used to get rid of spiritual ailments: holding on to chains, beating, hunger. This treatment, in particular, was received by George the Third. When the king fell into insanity, on the recommendations of the best European doctors, he was subjected to severe beatings. When he had another attack of melancholy, George the Third passed away.

About three quarters of a century in medicine, hydrotherapy was used. To eliminate depression, get rid of decadent mood, a sudden immersion in cold water was applied until the patient showed the first signs of suffocation. The length of the patient's stay in such conditions was equal to the time that was necessary for not too fast reading of the Miserere psalm. Another method, popular at the time, was also used: the patient was lying in a tied bath, and fifty buckets of cold water were poured onto his head. At the beginning of the XIX century in Russia for the therapy used the application of leeches to the anus, rubbing the head with a vomiting emetic stone. In winter, warm baths were prescribed, and in the summer - cool. Prior to the use of antidepressants, narcotic drugs were widely used. Opium and opiates were the most popular. These drugs were used until the sixties of the twentieth century.

Modern methods of treatment

Usually, to ease or eliminate the state of depression, antidepressants are prescribed. They can be prescribed in combination with small doses of neuroleptic drugs (such drugs, for example, as "Etaperazine", "Frenolon", "Sonapaks"). The main goal of drug treatment is to relieve tension, eliminate fear, anxiety, delirium. Preparations are appointed by the attending physician. If this treatment is ineffective, electroconvulsive therapy is indicated in a number of cases. As a rule, the patient is placed in a psychiatric hospital.