#1: Early Roots

 

   



As the name would suggest, psychology is the study of the mind or rather the science behind thought processes.  Psychology is an ever growing field and is one of the most popular majors college students will choose upon enrollment.  However, most people don’t understand the roots of psychology or how it came to be.  The purpose of this blog is to not only inform about psychology, but to also give a history behind the field and how it came to be the prominent field of science that it is today.  In addition to talking about the general history of psychology, this blog will go over some of the most fascinating psychological disorders in separate blog posts.  This blog is not only meant to inform, but to also show how psychology could also be related to the study of heterotopias and the mind in itself is a heterotopias.

The first evidence of psychology as a field of science can be dated back to the times of the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. Evidence was found that in the Eighth Century, Islamic physicians had been performing a primitive form of psychotherapy on patients with distraught ways of thinking in what can be considered psychiatric centers in Morocco.  In Egypt, archeologists have discovered the Edwin Smith Papyrus, a book from ancient Egyptian civilizations that contains about 50 different cures for mental conditions.  This book is believed to be the first form of written text on psychology and how to treat patients with mental illnesses.   However, the term psychology was believed to be coined in Ancient Greece from the Greek roots psyche- meaning “the breath of life” and -ology meaning “the study of”.  The three main concepts believed to comprise psychology were psyche or the vital principle of life, thymos or the motivational principle behind action and feeling, and nous or the organ for clear perception of truth.  These three concepts came upon observation of the human body and mind as studied by philosophers.  It was believed that these three helped govern a persons life and will to live and some philosophers believed that the weak minded were typically lacking in one of these principles.  While most of these so-called ‘logics’ are proven false today, this was the first evidence of people really trying to understand the workings behind the human mind as the branch of psychology as a science began.

Works Cited

Leahey, Thomas H. A History of Psychology. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1980. Print.

Syed, Ibrahim B. "Islamic Medicine: 1000 Years Ahead of Its times." Journal of the Islamic Medical Association (2002): 2-9. Print.
"Welcome to OSU Psychology | Department of Psychology | Oregon State University | Psychology Picture." Oregon State University. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2011. <http://oregonstate.edu/cla/psychology/