Cases of Mental Disorder in Mamlūk Egypt and the State’s Response (648-923A.H/1250-1517A.D)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Lecturer at Al-Alson Higher Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management

2 Associate Professor at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ain Shams

Abstract

Mental disorder was highly recognized in Mamlūk Egypt. They had several terms with different diagnoses. The symptoms of mental disorder differ from one disease to another. The study revealed five different terms in chronicles. Some of these terms are still in use till now for commoners, such as insane (maǧnūn), psychopath (muḫtall ‘aqlyan), melancholia (mālīḫūlya), while others are not common in the current time, such as senility (fasād al-ʻAql) and fool (mamrūr). Consequently, each disease had its own treatment in accordance with the severity of its symptoms. The study revealed that insanity was the severest type of mental disorder and the mildest ones were Melancholia and senility. Therefore, the state treated each disease differently, such as sending them to asylums, which was the logical response. However, in some other cases of mental disorder, patients were punished, confined, or left without any treatment. The patients received medical treatment at the Manṣūrī bimāristān) hospital (, which had a section dedicated to mental disorder. Only royals were sent to a different place in case of a mental disorder, such as the sultanate houses. On the other hand, the study proved that sending to the bimāristān was a salvation for some criminals who pretended their insanity to escape from punishment in prisons.

Keywords

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics