This article is a general timeline of psychology.
Ancient history – BCE c. 1550 BCE – The Ebers Papyrus mentioned depression and thought disorders. c. 600 BCE – Many cities in Greece had temples to Asklepios that provided cures for psychosomatic illnesses. 540–475 Heraclitus c. 500 Alcmaeon – suggested theory of humors as regulating human behavior (similar to Empedocles' elements) 500–428 Anaxagoras 490–430 Empedocles proposed a first natural, non-religious system of factors that create things around, including human characters. In his model he used four elements (water, fire, earth, air) and four seasons to derive diversity of natural systems. 490–421 Protagoras 470–399 Socrates – Socrates has been called the father of western philosophy, if only via his influence on Plato and Aristotle. Socrates made a major contribution to pedagogy via his dialectical method and to epistemology via his definition of true knowledge as true belief buttressed by some rational justification. 470–370 Democritus – Democritus distinguished between insufficient knowledge gained through the senses and legitimate knowledge gained through the intellect—an early stance on epistemology. 460 BC – 370 BCE – Hippocrates introduced principles of scientific medicine based upon naturalistic observation and logic, and denied the influence of spirits and demons in diseases. Introduced the concept of "temperamentum"("mixture", i.e. 4 temperament types based on a ratio between chemical bodily systems. Hippocrates was among the first physicians to argue that brain, and not the heart is the organ of psychic processes. 387 BCE – Plato suggested that the brain is the seat of mental processes. Plato's view of the "soul" (self) is that the body exists to serve the soul: "God created the soul before the body and gave it precedence both in time and value, and made it the dominating and controlling partner." from Timaeus c. 350 BCE – Aristotle wrote on the psuchê (soul) in De Anima, first mentioning the tabula rasa concept of the mind. c. 340 BCE – Praxagoras 371–288 Theophrastus 341–270 Epicurus c. 320 Herophilus c. 300–30 Zeno of Citium taught the philosophy of Stoicism, involving logic and ethics. In logic, he distinguished between imperfect knowledge offered by the senses and superior knowledge offered by reason. In ethics, he taught that virtue lay in reason and vice in rejection of reason. Stoicism inspired Aaron Beck to introduce cognitive behavioral therapy in the 1970s. 304–250 Erasistratus 123–43 BCE – Themison of Laodicea was a pupil of Asclepiades of Bithynia and founded a school of medical thought known as "methodism." He was criticized by Soranus for his cruel handling of mental patients. Among his prescriptions were darkness, restraint by chains, and deprivation of food and drink. Juvenal satirized him and suggested that he killed more patients than he cured. c. 100 BCE – The Dead Sea Scrolls noted the division of human nature into two temperaments.
1st–5th century CE
c. 50 – Aulus Cornelius Celsus died, leaving De Medicina, a medical encyclopedia; Book 3 covers mental diseases. The term insania, insanity, was first used by him. The methods of treatment included bleeding, frightening the patient, emetics, enemas, total darkness, and decoctions of poppy or henbane, and pleasant ones such as music therapy, travel, sport, reading aloud, and massage. He was aware of the importance of the doctor-patient relationship. c. 100 – Rufus of Ephesus believed that the nervous system was instrumental in voluntary movement and sensation. He discovered the optic chiasma by anatomical studies of the brain. He stressed taking a history of both physical and mental disorders. He gave a detailed account of melancholia, and was quoted by Galen. 93–138 – Soranus of Ephesus advised kind treatment in healthy and comfortable conditions, including light, warm rooms. c. 130–200 – Galen "was schooled in all the psychological systems of the day: Platonic, Aristotelian, Stoic, and Epicurean" He advanced medicine by offering anatomic investigations and was a skilled physician. Galen developed further the theory of temperaments suggested by Hippocrates, that people's characters were determined by the balance among four bodily substances. He also distinguished sensory from motor nerves and showed that the brain controls the muscles. c. 150–200 – Aretaeus of Cappadocia 155–220 Tertullian 205–270 Plotinus wrote Enneads a systematic account of Neoplatonist philosophy, also nature of visual perception and how memory might work. c. 323–403 – Oribasius compiled medical writings based on the works of Aristotle, Asclepiades, and Soranus of Ephesus, and wrote on melancholia in Galenic terms. 345–399 – Evagrius Ponticus described a rigorous way of introspection within the early Christian monastic tradition. Through introspection, monks could acquire self-knowledge and control their stream of thought which signified potentially demonic influences. Ponticus developed this view in Praktikos, his guide to ascetic life.Inbar Graiver, "Probing the Boundary between Knowledge and Science in the History of Psychology: The Late Antique Roots of Introspection" , Shells and Pebbles [blog], 10 October 2017. Retrieved 2018-20-7. c. 390 – Nemesius wrote De Natura Hominis (On Human Nature); large sections were incorporated in Saint John Damascene's De Fide Orthodoxia in the eighth century. Nemesius' book De Placitis Hippocratis et Platonis (On the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato) contains many passages concerning Galen's anatomy and physiology, believing that different cavities of the brain were responsible for different functions. 397–398 – St. Augustine of Hippo published Confessions, which anticipated Freud by near-discovery of the subconscious.Henry Chadwick, Augustine (Oxford, 1986), p.3. Augustine's most complete account of the soul is in De Quantitate Animae (The Greatness of the Soul). The work assumes a Platonic model of the soul. 5th century – Caelius Aurelianus opposed harsh methods of handling the insane, and advocated humane treatment. c. 423–529 – Theodosius the Cenobiarch founded a monastery at Kathismus, near Bethlehem. Three hospitals were built by the side of the monastery: one for the sick, one for the aged, and one for the insane. c. 451 – Patriarch Nestorius of Constantinople: his followers dedicated themselves to the sick and became physicians of great repute. They brought the works of Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Galen, and influenced the approach to physical and mental disorders in Persia and Arabia
6th–10th century
625–690 – Paul of Aegina suggested that hysteria should be treated by ligature of the limbs, and mania by tying the patient to a mattress placed inside a wicker basket and suspended from the ceiling. He also recommended baths, wine, special diets, and sedatives for the mentally ill. He described the following mental disorders: phrenitis, delirium, lethargus, melancholia, mania, incubus, lycanthropy, and epilepsy c. 800 – The first bimaristan was built in Baghdad. By the 13th century, bimaristans grew into hospitals with specialized wards, including wards for mentally ill patients.Miller, A. C. (2006). Jundi-Shapur, bimaristans, and the rise of academic medical centres. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 99(12), 615–617. c. 850 – Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabari wrote a work emphasizing the need for psychotherapy.Amber Haque (2004), "Psychology from Islamic Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists", Journal of Religion and Health 43 (4): 357–377 – Ahmed ibn Sahl al-Balkhi urged doctors to ensure that they evaluated the state of both their patients' bodies and souls, and highlighted the link between spiritual or mental health and overall health. – al-Razi (Rhazes) promoted psychotherapy and an understanding attitude towards those with psychological distress.
11th–15th century
1025 – In The Canon of Medicine, Avicenna described a number of conditions, including hallucination, insomnia, mania, nightmare, melancholia, dementia, epilepsy, paralysis, stroke, vertigo and tremor.S Safavi-Abbasi, LBC Brasiliense, RK Workman (2007), "The fate of medical knowledge and the neurosciences during the time of Genghis Khan and the Mongolian Empire", Neurosurgical Focus 23 (1), E13, p. 3. c. 1030 – Al-Biruni employed an experimental method in examining the concept of reaction time.Muhammad Iqbal, The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, "The Spirit of Muslim Culture" (cf. and ) c. 1180 – 1245 Alexander of Hales c. 1190 – 1249 William of Auvergne c. 1200 – Maimonides wrote about neuropsychiatric disorders, and described rabies and belladonna intoxication. 1215–1277 Peter Juliani taught in the medical faculty of the University of Siena, and wrote on medical, philosophical and psychological topics. He was personal physician to Pope Gregory X and later became archbishop and cardinal. He was elected pope under the name John XXI in 1276. c. 1214 – 1294 Roger Bacon advocated for empirical methods and wrote on optics, visual perception, and linguistics. 1221–1274 Bonaventure 1193–1280 Albertus Magnus 1225 – Thomas Aquinas 1240 – Bartholomeus Anglicus published De Proprietatibus Rerum, which included a dissertation on the brain, recognizing that mental disorders can have a physical or psychological cause. 1247 – Bethlehem Royal Hospital in Bishopsgate outside the wall of London, one of the most famous old psychiatric hospitals was founded as a priory of the Order of St. Mary of Bethlem to collect alms for Crusaders; after the English government secularized it, it started admitting mental patients by 1377 (), becoming known as Bedlam Hospital; in 1547 it was acquired by the City of London, operating until 1948; it is now part of the British NHS Foundation Trust.Shorter, E. (1997) 1266–1308 Duns Scotus – Witelo wrote Perspectiva, a work on optics containing speculations on psychology, nearly discovering the subconscious. 1295 Lanfranc of Milan writes Science of Cirurgie 1317–1340 – William of Ockham, an English Franciscan friar and scholastic philosopher and theologian, is commonly known for Occam's razor, the methodological principle that the simplest explanation is to be preferred. He also produced significant works on logic, physics, and theology, advancing his thoughts about intuitive and abstracted knowledge. c. 1375 – English authorities regarded mental illness as demonic possession, treating it with exorcism and torture. c. 1400 – Renaissance Humanism caused a reawakening of ancient knowledge of science and medicine. 1433–1499 Marsilio Ficino was a renowned figure of the Italian Renaissance, a Neoplatonist humanist, a translator of Greek philosophical writing, and the most influential exponent of Platonism in Italy in the fifteenth century. c. 1450 – The pendulum in Europe swings, bringing witch mania, causing thousands of women to be executed for witchcraft until the late 17th century.
16th century 1590 – Scholastic philosopher Rudolph Goclenius coined the term "psychology"; though usually regarded as the origin of the term, there is evidence that it was used at least six decades earlier by Marko Marulić.
17th century
c. 1600–1625 – Francis Bacon was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author, and pioneer of the scientific method. His writings on psychological topics included the nature of knowledge and memory. 1650 – René Descartes died, leaving Treatise of the World, containing his dualistic theory of reality, mind vs. matter. 1672 – Thomas Willis published the anatomical treatise De Anima Brutorum, describing psychology in terms of brain function.