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Until the early 1900s, "mild" mental illness such as autism just didn't exist in a medical sense. People were "odd", "eccentric" etc and even after autism was formally recognised and studied in the 1940s it was virtually unheard of. Again, people were odd, a bit weird or eccentric.
There are no records of diagnosed cases of autism or similar before the 1900s because nobody recognised them for what they were.
Serious mental health issues have been recognised for thousands of years. Records of diagnoses of "lunacy" and "insanity" go back to the 1400s in the UK. Back then the cure was imprisonment in a cage and with regular blood letting and being plunged in cold water.
My only correction would be that autism isn't a mental illness. It's a difference in brain structure - synaptic density seems to play a significant role (https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/a-key-brain-difference-linked-to-autism-is-found-for-the-first-time-in-living-people/).
"Eccentric" would indeed have been the word, even as late as the 80s. And that's just men; women often present symptoms differently, or different symptoms entirely and even today ASD can go unnoticed for much longer in young women.
Define mental illness?
Probably any neurodivergence that results in causing harm to self or others, and inability to conform with societal norms.
I pulled that out of me arse but it sounds logical enough.
I added this comment.
This seems incredibly disingenuous when you can just go search the internet for the definition, and why autism isn't a classified as mental illness, but sure, I'll humour you.
"Autism" is a spectrum of developmental disorders that stem from those brain structure differences I mentioned. An illness is when something is wrong. Not just different, wrong. There's nothing "wrong" in an autistic person; autism is not a disease or sickness caused by some outside force like a virus or bacteria or drug; it's not transmissible, and it cannot be developed post hoc (meaning you can't acquire autism, you're born with it). There's no innate reduction in function. It can't be treated or cured; the symptoms of the mental illnesses caused by dealing with neurotypicals can, but again those aren't something we're born with; those are acquired.
At the root of it, we just process information differently than a neurotypical person due to our brains growing differently. It's like saying ARM is "silicon illness" because it's not x86_64.
https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/publications/health-matters/what-is-autism
The F? That's what I did, and posted in the other comment. :-P
I think there's a definition of "wrong" here as well. That's a very subjective definition. My god son has autism, and he has problems in school, and it makes life difficult for his parents and siblings. That's not "wrong"? It creates harm in some definition.
I dunno, I'm not trying to blame autistic people or make them seem bad or worth less or something, I'm just saying that it sure feels like an illness sometimes. I also suspect I have some ultra mild placement on the spectrum, and it can be challenging in certain situations.
I was responding when you posted that, so I didn't see it, and you didn't respond to me, so if you hadn't said that I might not have seen it at all. And you didn't bother to look before responding to me because...?
Moreover, I did you a favour by responding with relevant information instead of just telling you to educate yourself, and you want to act like I'm an asshole for pointing out why your question seemed disingenuous? Cool, cheers.
But I did respond to you. The comment with the definitions from Wikipedia is a response to your comment.
Didn't bother, or didn't have time at the moment. 🤷♂️ Sometimes life happens. When I had time, I bothered, as you saw. 👍
What? No, I don't. Why would I? 🤨
I dunno, sounds to me like autism fits fine with "mental illness", possibly depending on the severity/placement on the spectrum. Note that mental illness isn't something easily defined. I just pulled the quotes above from Wikipedia.
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/autism-spectrum-disorders-asd
Autism isn't a "mental state", it is structural differences in the brain. Being included in the DSM doesn't automatically classify something as a mental illness, the DSM is published by a single body, the APA. Other professional individuals and organisations have opinions on that: https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/the-concept-of-mental-illness-and-why-the-dsm-approach-is-wrong
No, but those descriptions of a mental illness I thought fit autism fairly well. 🤷♂️ That's what I meant.
would you consider left-handedness a disability? just because someone struggles with things that suit the majority doesn't mean it's an illness
Left-handedness doesn't need to be a struggle, does it? We don't force kids to write with their right hand anymore since many decades.
And by drilling holes in the skull. Plus probably various other horrible 'treatments' that just created extra problems without fixing the original (and very vaguely understood) issue.