a glance at the history of psychiatry in the world with special reference to iran

this article reviews the historical literature on clinical and diagnostic issues involved in the treatent and study of mental illness in iran. iranian physicians, under the influence of islamic philosophy and values, treated mental patients in a very humane, rational, and scientific manner in contrast to the ethos prevalent during the middle ages in europe. during the dark ages, mental patients were treated very inhumanly and were brutally tortured. however, in iran, various techniques like music therapy, psychotherapy, different physical and drug therapies, recreational therapies, and employment of legal and medical support, and finall y in the case of severe mental disorders, special hospitals scenic locales were resorted to for purposes of treatment. in this paper, special reference is made to various writers and scholars whose pre-eminence in the history of medicine in iran is a large measure due to the imortance they paid to mental illness and to the role of the psyche.