Psychology and More

In Introduction to Psychology, we finished up talking about treatments for psychological disorders, and I mentioned trephination as one of the psychosurgery methods used from the supernatural perspectives. Mind Hacks pointed me toward the blog Neurophilosophy, where there is an extensive historical background on the procedure.

An illustrated history of trepanation:

There is a great deal of speculation about why ancient civilizations used trepanation, but it is almost certain that all the peoples who used it did so because they somehow linked the brain with behaviour. Some anthropologists suggest that trepanation was performed as part of tribal or superstitious rituals. Other researchers believe that the procedure was used as a treatment for conditions such as headaches, epilepsy, hydrocephalus and mental disorders. These were presumably attributed to possession by evil demons; making a hole in the skull would therefore have provided the spirits a passage for escape.

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