Ahmed ibn Sahl al-Balkhi Pioneer of mental health, medical psychology, cognitive psychology, cognitive therapy, psychophysiology and psychosomatic medicine.
Ahmed ibn Sahl al-Balkhi
Pioneer of mental health, medical psychology, cognitive psychology, cognitive therapy, psychophysiology and psychosomatic medicine.
Pioneer of mental health, medical psychology, cognitive psychology, cognitive therapy, psychophysiology and psychosomatic medicine.
He was a Persian Muslim polymath: a geographer, mathematician,physician, psychologist and scientist. Born in 850 CE in Shamistiyan, in the province of Balkh, Khorasan (in modern dayAfghanistan), he was a disciple of al-Kindi. He was also the founder the “Balkhī school” of terrestrial mapping in Baghdad.
Islamic medicine stressed the need for the understanding of human mental health. The first psychiatric hospitals and insane asylums were built in the Islamic world in Baghdad in 705, Fes (the third largest city in Morocco) in the 8th century, Cairo in 800, Damascus and Aleppo in 1270 (Syed, 2002). The most characteristic features of medieval Muslim psychotherapy were the use of clinical observations of mentally ill patients, which resulted in the provision of ground-breaking applications of moral treatment, baths, drug medication, music therapy and occupational therapy (Syed, 2002). The concepts of mental health and mental hygiene were introduced by the Muslim physician Ahmed ibn Sahl al-Balkhi (850-934) (Table 1). His book, Sustenance for Body and Soul (in arabic: Masalih al-Abdan wa al-anfus), was the first book that discussed psychosomatic diseases with on emphasis on mind and body: "if the nafs (psyche) gets sick, the body may also find no joy in life with development of a physical illness" (Deuraseh and Abu Talib, 2005). Ahmed ibn Sahl al-Balkhi was a pioneer of psychotherapy, psychophysiology and psychosomatic medicine. He was the first one who recognized that the body (fever, headache) and the soul (anger, anxiety and sadness) can be healthy or sick or balanced or imbalanced. He recognized two types of depression: one caused by known causes (physiological reasons) that can be treated through physical medicine; and the other caused by unknown reasons that can be treated psychologically (Deuraseh and Abu Talib, 2005). Najab ud-din Muhamed (10th century) made careful observations of mentally ill patients with detailed descriptions of a number of mental diseases including agitated depression, neurosis, periapism and sexual impotence (Nafkhae Malikholia), psychosis (Kutrib) and mania (Dual-Kulb) (Syed, 2002; Youssef and Youssef, 1996).
Islamic medicine stressed the need for the understanding of human mental health. The first psychiatric hospitals and insane asylums were built in the Islamic world in Baghdad in 705, Fes (the third largest city in Morocco) in the 8th century, Cairo in 800, Damascus and Aleppo in 1270 (Syed, 2002). The most characteristic features of medieval Muslim psychotherapy were the use of clinical observations of mentally ill patients, which resulted in the provision of ground-breaking applications of moral treatment, baths, drug medication, music therapy and occupational therapy (Syed, 2002). The concepts of mental health and mental hygiene were introduced by the Muslim physician Ahmed ibn Sahl al-Balkhi (850-934) (Table 1). His book, Sustenance for Body and Soul (in arabic: Masalih al-Abdan wa al-anfus), was the first book that discussed psychosomatic diseases with on emphasis on mind and body: "if the nafs (psyche) gets sick, the body may also find no joy in life with development of a physical illness" (Deuraseh and Abu Talib, 2005). Ahmed ibn Sahl al-Balkhi was a pioneer of psychotherapy, psychophysiology and psychosomatic medicine. He was the first one who recognized that the body (fever, headache) and the soul (anger, anxiety and sadness) can be healthy or sick or balanced or imbalanced. He recognized two types of depression: one caused by known causes (physiological reasons) that can be treated through physical medicine; and the other caused by unknown reasons that can be treated psychologically (Deuraseh and Abu Talib, 2005). Najab ud-din Muhamed (10th century) made careful observations of mentally ill patients with detailed descriptions of a number of mental diseases including agitated depression, neurosis, periapism and sexual impotence (Nafkhae Malikholia), psychosis (Kutrib) and mania (Dual-Kulb) (Syed, 2002; Youssef and Youssef, 1996).
Al-Balkhi and Muhamed ibn Zakariya Razi (Rhazes) were the first known physicians to describe psychotherapy. Razi's books (El-Mansuri and Al-Hawi) formed landmarks for the description of mental illness in the 10th century and provided definitions, symptoms and treatments for problems related to mental health and mental illness. Razi was also the director of a unique psychiatric ward in a Baghdad hospital. Such psychiatric clinics did not exist in Europe during that time for fear of demonic possessions (Figure 1) (Syed, 2002).
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