![]() ![]() According to Hippocrates and subsequent tradition, melancholia was caused by an excess of black bile, hence the name, which means "black bile", from Ancient Greek μέλας ( melas), "dark, black", and χολή ( kholé), "bile" a person whose constitution tended to have a preponderance of black bile had a melancholic disposition. ![]() Personality types were similarly determined by the dominant humor in a particular person. The name "melancholia" comes from the old medical belief of the four humours: disease or ailment being caused by an imbalance in one or more of the four basic bodily liquids, or humours. Today, the term "melancholia" and "melancholic" are still used in medical diagnostic classification, such as in ICD-11 and DSM-5, to specify certain features that may be present in major depression.įrontispiece for the 1628 3rd edition of The Anatomy of Melancholy Sigmund Freud, Gordon Parker, Dusan Hadzi-Pavlovic, Michael Alan Taylor, and Max Fink all contributed to defining melancholia in various ways. However, in the 20th century, the term returned as a synonym for depression. Shakespeare's Prince Hamlet epitomized the melancholic man.įrom the 18th to 19th centuries, melancholia became more about abnormal beliefs, losing its connection to depression and affective symptoms. ![]() In the visual arts, intellectual melancholy was often depicted in portraiture, while in music, it was associated with composer John Dowland. Notable literary works include Robert Burton's "The Anatomy of Melancholy" (1621), Sir Thomas Browne's "Religio Medici" (1643), and Edward Young's "Night-Thoughts" (1742-1745). This fashionable melancholy became a prominent theme in literature, art, and music of the era. The Encyclopédie of Diderot and d'Alembert also noted that the causes of melancholia were similar to those of mania, including grief, pain, passions, and unsatisfied love and sexual appetites.ĭuring the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a cultural and literary cult of melancholia emerged in England, linked to Neoplatonist and humanist Marsilio Ficino's transformation of melancholia into a mark of genius. Robert Burton's "The Anatomy of Melancholy" (1621) provided an extensive analysis of the subject from both literary and medical perspectives, suggesting music and dance as critical treatments for mental illness. Painters like Albrecht Dürer depicted melancholia in their work, with Dürer's famous engraving "Melencolia I" interpreted as a portrayal of waiting for inspiration. In the Middle Ages, the understanding of melancholia shifted to a religious perspective, with sadness seen as a vice and demonic possession as a potential cause of the disease. The 10th-century Persian physician Al-Akhawayni Bokhari described melancholia as a chronic illness caused by the impact of black bile on the brain, with symptoms such as unexplained fear and inability to answer questions. In ancient Rome, Galen added "fixed delusions" to the list of symptoms and believed that melancholia could cause cancer. Hippocrates and other ancient physicians described melancholia as a distinct disease with mental and physical symptoms, including persistent fears and despondencies, poor appetite, abulia, sleeplessness, irritability, and agitation. The term "melancholia" originated from the ancient medical belief of the four humours, with melancholia being caused by an excess of black bile. Related terms used in historical medicine include lugubriousness (from Latin lugere: "to mourn"), moroseness (from Latin morosus: "self-will or fastidious habit"), wistfulness (from a blend of "wishful" and the obsolete English wistly, meaning "intently"), and saturnineness (from Latin Saturninus: "of the planet Saturn). Until the 18th century, doctors and other scholars classified melancholic conditions as such by their perceived common cause – an excess of a notional fluid known as "black bile", which was commonly linked to the spleen.īetween the late 18th and late 19th centuries, melancholia was a common medical diagnosis, and modern concepts of depression as a mood disorder eventually arose from this historical context. Melancholy was regarded as one of the four temperaments matching the four humours. Melancholia or melancholy (from Greek: µέλαινα χολή melaina chole, meaning black bile) is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly depressed mood, bodily complaints, and sometimes hallucinations and delusions. A man whose face exemplifies the melancholic temperament (1789)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |