Anomaly and Norm

The Adaptability of Life Between Anatomy and Biology

Mens Sana in Corpore Sano? The Anomalies of The Mind

In the ancient world the “exceptional conditions” attributed to the action of a daimon could generate “anomalous” mental states such as ecstasy, enthusiasm, and frenzy. In the work Problemata, attributed to Aristotle, in Problema XXX, these states are for the first time interpreted as diseases caused by an imbalance of the humors. The humoral theory, conceived by Hippocrates, stated that bodily fluids (blood, yellow bile, black bile, phlegm) should be in perfect balance: excess or deficiency of these fluids led to anomalies, the mind was disturbed, and behavior became inappropriate.

The idea of attributing the anomalies of the mind to measurable signs of alteration in the nervous system is the foundation of the medical approach to madness: in the mid-19th century, hypotheses and theories about the normal functioning of the mind were built from anomalies, such as in the case of the discovery of a language area in the brain through the observation of an aphasic patient, or the role of the frontal lobes of the brain based on the case of Phineas Gage, who changed his personality after an accident.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the influence of passions on human behavior was still highly regarded: the French psychiatrist Philippe Pinel freed individuals from chains in large institutions for the needy and classified them as “sick” distinguishing the cases with visible alterations in the brain (judged incurable) from those in which injuries weren’t present (judged curable with a “moral” treatment to restablish control).

The consequence of this revolution was the foundation of institutions dedicated to the insane: the insane would become those who are inside, and the normal would be everyone that is outside.