ABSTRACT
Mental disorder affects the minds, lives, and well-being of millions of people throughout the world. This chapter defines mental disorder and traces the changing concepts of madness through the ages. Ideas about the causes of mental illness changed from those of evil spirits in preliterate times to contemporary views based largely upon medical perspectives. In the twentieth century, there were three revolutions in the United States that initiated highly influential patterns of treatment for the mentally ill: (1) psychoanalysis and the theories of Sigmund Freud, (2) the widespread use of psychoactive drugs to treat mental patients, and (3) the establishment of community care. To date, the twenty-first century has yet to make its definitive contribution to the treatment of mental disorders, simply because it is too early.
