Question

What was the role of supernatural beliefs in efforts to understand
mental disorders during the Middle Ages?

Answer 1

For much of our recorded history, deviant behavior has been considered a reflection of the battle between good and evil. When confronted with unexplainable, irrational behavior and by suffering and upheaval, people have perceived mental illness to the work of demons, external spirit forces, and poisons. With the development of the Christian church during the Middle Ages, exorcism, shrines, and saints became of great importance for the treatment of mental illness.