Byzantine psychosomatic medicine (10th- 15th century). 1999

A C Eftychiadis
Department of Philosophy and History of Medicine, Medical School of Athens University, Athens, Greece.

Original elements of the psychosomatic medicine are examined by the most important byzantine physicians and medico-philosophers during the 10th -15th centuries. These topics concern the psycosomatic unity of the human personality, the psychosomatic disturbances, diseases and interactions, organic diseases, which cause psychical disorders, psychical pathological reactions, which result in somatic diseases, the psychology of the depth of the soul, the psychosomatic pathogenetic reasons of psychiatric and neurological diseases and suicide, the influence of witchcraft on psychosomatic affections, maniac and demoniac patients. The psychosomatic treatment has a holistic preventive and curative character and encloses sanitary and dietary measures, physiotherapy, curative bathing, strong purgation, pharmaceutical preparations proportional to the disease, religious disposition, psychoanalysis and psychotherapy with dialogue and the contribution of the divine factor. The late byzantine medical science contributed mainly to the progress of the psychosomatic medicine and therapeutics. The saint woman physician Hermione (1st -2nd cent.) is considered as the protectress of psychosomatic medicine.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D011611 Psychosomatic Medicine A system of medicine which aims at discovering the exact nature of the relationship between the emotions and bodily function, affirming the principle that the mind and body are one. Medicine, Psychosomatic
D049691 History, Medieval The period of history from the year 500 through 1450 of the common era. Medieval History,History of Medicine, Medieval,History of Medicine, Renaissance,Medicine, Medieval History,Medicine, Renaissance,Medieval History (Medicine),Renaissance Medicine,Histories, Medieval (Medicine),History Medicine, Medieval,History, Medieval (Medicine),Medieval Histories (Medicine),Medieval History Medicine
D018612 Byzantium An ancient city, the site of modern Istanbul. From the 4th to 15th centuries the empire extended from southeastern Europe to western Asia, reaching its greatest extent under Justinian (527-565). By about 1000 A.D. it comprised the southern Balkans, Greece, Asia Minor, and parts of southern Italy. The capture of Constantinople in 1453 marked the formal end of the Byzantine Empire. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988) Byzantine Empire

Related Publications

A C Eftychiadis
January 1952, Psychosomatic medicine,
A C Eftychiadis
October 2004, La Revue du praticien,
A C Eftychiadis
September 2009, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society,
A C Eftychiadis
January 1999, Medicina nei secoli,
A C Eftychiadis
August 1966, Tijdschrift voor ziekenverpleging,
A C Eftychiadis
January 1953, Rivista di storia delle scienze mediche e naturali,
A C Eftychiadis
December 1982, Lancet (London, England),
A C Eftychiadis
October 1959, Concours medical,
A C Eftychiadis
March 1957, Kinderarztliche Praxis,
Copied contents to your clipboard!