Recently while reading an article by Philippe Pinel on melancholia in the Encyclopedie Méthodique of 1808 I ran accross a description of a treatment for what we might call Body Dysmorphic Disorder.
"Other… [melancholics] imagine having a nose or lips of immense size. We have been able to cure them by making an incision from which the patient sees blood run, and then showing them a great piece of flesh that we say we have removed." Not exactly "moral treatment!"
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Thanks! I am writing a piece about the history of BDD and didn't know about this historical reference. If anyone on this site knows of other references, please let me know.
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