ABSTRACT
The distinction between mind and body and how it has fed into an understanding of the causes of woes is traced back to the Classical period. It is argued that contemporary readings of historical texts have been used to support the illness myth, downplaying the significance given to the cosmos, the environment, the state of the soul, and social determinants. One effect of assuming that woes are caused by somatic disorders is to remove them from their social context. The world-views of mechanism and contextualism are delineated, and the ways in which the former provides a framework for medicalisation (especially the identity assumed between mind and brain), is explained and illustrated. Historical and contemporary accounts of so-called depressive disorder are used to show how woes have been assimilated into a framework of illness.
