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Henessys Paulino
Professor Veena Raman
CAS 137H
2 November 2015
Paradigm Shifts in the Understanding of Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that causes sudden episodes of convulsions,
loss of consciousness, or sensory disturbances. However, epilepsy was not always seen as
a severe medical problem. Epilepsy is marked by reoccurring seizures. While individuals
have these episodes their eyes roll back into their heads as they foam in the mouth and
fall on the floor while they spaz uncontrollably. When these individuals stop having
seizures they have no recollection of what happened. These occurrences in the early days
were extremely frightening for those around, because of the fact that they did not have
the knowledge or modern science to help them with this unknown issue. Epilepsy
underwent three main shifts throughout the years; it was first seen as being caused by
spirits, then it being a form of insanity, and finally it being a medical issue. All of these
shifts occurred because of the different medical progresses throughout the years and the
different outbreaks in medical technology.
The first records of epilepsy were in the Babylonian years 539 B.C. The
Babylonians believed that the seizures were caused by demons entering the brain and
possessing the body, they also thought that there were different types of seizures because
of the different types of demons that can possess the body. The Greeks also had
recordings of epilepsy and called it the Sacred Disease. They thought that epilepsy was
a curse from the gods because they had offended the goddess Selene. In contrast to the

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Babylonians, the Greeks believed they had a cure for the seizures. For them, the cure was
to visit the temple of the goddess Selene where she would come in a dream and cure the
disease. In Roman society those who had epilepsy were shunned and kept in an isolated
place, because isolation would improve their moral disciple, lack of which was thought to
be the cause of epilepsy. One procedure that was used for a very long time was the use of
human body parts to cure epilepsy. Essentially, patients had to eat the liver of an already
dead human in order to be cured. Surprisingly this method was highly used and the last
instance of this happened in 1908 (History of Epilepsy). Now, all these views seem
extremely radical because of the fact that these civilizations did not have any medicine to
fall back on. The cause and cure for epilepsy ranged depending on what they believed in.
So, epilepsy had many names, causes and cures, all of which never worked.
400 B.C. was when many philosophers started thinking about epilepsy as an
actual health issues rather than it being spirit related. Head vs. Heart was one of the most
widely discussed debate in that time. Aristotle believed that our rational thinking took
place in the heart because it is always moving while the brain just sits there. On the other
hand, Greek philosophers such as Plato and Hippocrates thought that the brain did the
logical thinking because it is closest to heaven. Although their reasoning was flawed
Plato and Hippocrates were on the right track. An important paradigm shift occurred
when Hippocrates introduced the medical model; which states that there are internal
causes for symptoms. Hippocrates was the first individual to propose medicine as a
rational science; his beliefs lessened the idea that magic, superstition, or the supernatural
caused epilepsy. Of course not everyone agreed with Hippocrates, but the vast majority
looked to him for guidance when they had problems with their bodies that they could not

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explain. Hippocrates was able to collect data and conduct experiments that proved that
diseases were natural processes that cannot be explained by spirits or demons. The
Cnidian School was the first institution that began to practice medicine; here many
diseases and conditions were being looked at, including epilepsy (Greek Medecine).
Epilepsy, according to Hippocrates, was just another natural disease that could be treated
through natural methods. Such as medicine and a healthy diet. Hippocrates was the first
to view epilepsy as a natural disorder and would be the only one for many centuries to
come.
The view on epilepsy went through yet another paradigm shift in the Middle Ages
and the Renaissance. Epilepsy took a religious connotation; the nobility and the church
believed that epilepsy was not a disease but a sign of power and great intelligence. The
church thought that when individuals were having seizures God was communicating with
them. Logically, they believed that Since God is such a powerful being no human can be
in his presence without them having these erratic convulsions. So, the fact that these
individuals were undergoing seizures meant that they were going through a religious
experience that not many can undergo. It was common knowledge that most of the
notable religious figures suffered from epilepsy, proving that those who suffered from
epilepsy had a connection with God (Seizuresof God). Finally, the Enlightenment in
the 18th century began to change, once again, how epilepsy was viewed. Epilepsy was
now once again seen as a medical issue, however without the help of modern science it
was viewed as a form of insanity. In order to treat these insane individuals, asylums
were established. Although asylums had been mainly established in Europe since 1406,
there were no epileptic patients because it was not viewed as a psychiatric issue until

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then. However, with the turn of the new era it was beginning to become a form of
insanity. Those admitted to these asylums endured crude punishment and nasty living
conditions because of the over population in the asylums. The majority of asylums were
equipped with extremely untrained individuals who treated the mentally ill, or in the case
of epileptic patients, those with diseases, like animals. The number of patients admitted to
asylums in the United States was a shocking total of 150,00 by 1904. There were many
cases in which asylums had to take in double their capacity in order to accommodate all
incoming patients. Treatments in asylums included high doses of sedatives to keep the
patients calm, and shock therapy, which were high frequencies of electricity entering the
patients body, in order to shock the brain back to its normal state. Treatments also
included extremely cold baths that would numb the patients to the point where they
became hypothermic and did not experience convulsions (The History Happy Pills).
The list goes on for the different types of crude treatments or better yet punishments that
epileptic patients had to undergo.
Lobotomies were later introduced as a procedure that was designed to alleviate
suffering by disrupting brain circuits that might cause symptoms of epilepsy
(LiveScience). Lobotomy was a surgery done to epileptic patients where doctors would
use a surgical hammer and an orbitoclast, which is an extremely sharp tool. The
orbitoclast would be positioned at the inner corner of one of the eyes and the hammer was
used to add pressure so that the orbitoclast can penetrate the frontal lobe and relive
symptoms of epilepsy. The first to ever perform this surgery was neurologist Antonio
Egas Moniz who was even awarded a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Although
this procedure was highly dangerous and ineffective, it did provide the gateway to

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understanding epilepsy and alleviating its symptoms. At the time, this was seen as the
highest point of medicine. Physicians were just beginning to experiment with cutting
open the body in order to cure many different diseases. Another popular surgery was the
split-brain surgery. This surgery was meant to alleviate epileptic seizure by severing the
corpus callosum, which is what connects the left brain to the right brain. By performing
this surgery both halves of the brain were completely disconnected from each other which
did alleviate symptoms of epilepsy, because there was no way for the electrical currents
to pass through both halves. However, it did cause split-brain syndrome, which affected
the individuals much more than the epilepsy did (Psychology today).
The cause of epilepsy was becoming clearer in 1873 when John Hughlings
Jackson was credited for the first electrical theory. The theory states that epilepsy was the
cause of electrical discharges throughout the whole body. In the 1930s Hans Berger
finally proved this theory with the invention of the EEG. The EEG was able to pick up
electrical current through the brain as patients were having seizures; this proved that the
origins of these electrical surges originated in the brain. In 1939 the first animal model of
epilepsy was developed allowing the disease to be studied and practice treatment
methods. In this same year the first drug to treat epilepsy was developed, followed by
various other drugs that alleviate symptoms of epilepsy better than the last.
The views on epilepsy had changed dramatically from 500 B.C. to where we
currently are now in 2015. Although many paradigm shifts occurred, changing the way
individuals view people with epilepsy, these individuals were still seen as outcast who
could not have a normal life without the chance of them seizing on random moments.

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There is no yet a cure for epilepsy; however, researchers are working tirelessly to give
epileptic patients the normal lives they deserve.

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Work Cited
Foerschner, Allison. The History of Mental Illness: From Skull Drills to Happy Pills RSS. Nov.
2010. Web. Oct. 26 2015 <http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/283/2/the-history-of-mentalillness-from-skull-drills-to-happy-pills?utm_expid=22625156-1.Wovr3IOcQ7OKnauEqV69g.0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F>

Statler, Seth. History of Epilepsy Nawrot. Feb. 2007. Web. Oct. 28. 2015
<http://nawrot.psych.ndsu.nodak.edu/courses/465Projects05/epilepsy/History.htm>

Osborn, David. Hippocrates Greek Medicine: Hippocrates. 2007. Web. Oct. 28 2015
<http://www.greekmedicine.net/whos_who/Hippocrates.html>

Lewis, Tanya. Lobotomy: Definition, Procedure & History LiveScience. August 2014. Web,
Oct. 29 2015. <http://www.livescience.com/42199-lobotomy-definition.html>

Eguae-Obazee, Isabella. Seizures and the Sight of God Seizures and the Sight of God. Jan
2008. Web. Nov. 1 2015. <http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1867>

Brogaard, Berit. Split Brains Psychology Today. November 2012. Web. Nov. 1 2015.
<https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-superhuman-mind/201211/split-brains>

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