Looking Backwards for a Way Forwards: Greek Tragedy and its Classification of Mental States

Abstract

Greek tragedies have become synonymous with popular understandings of psychology. Amongst other themes, many of the storylines of these ancient tales centre on the decline and turmoil of their characters’ mental states. Taking three famous narratives from two of the master tragedians, the classification of mental states and symptoms of mental ill-health will be analysed through more ‘modern’ terminology. Despite the persistent focus of Greek tragedies upon mental state, there seems to be a lack of distinct terminology for the classification of divergent conditions and symptoms. As contemporary psychology engages in the self-aware debate of the formulation and utility of diagnoses and conditions, looking retrospectively to how other societies offered a full exhibition of mental states without the use of such classifications may prove enlightening. The tragedies that are going to be examined are Euripides’ Bacchae, Sophocles’ Oedipus dramas and Sophocles’ Ajax. These dramas all exhibit the use of mania as the overriding descriptive terminology – a term encompassing symptoms of psychological turmoil which have been assigned classifications such as ‘psychosis’, ‘schizophrenia’, ‘bipolar disorder’ and ‘post traumatic stress disorder’ within modern psychology’s history. The ancient tragedians’ aversions to distinct classification reflect an interesting expression of and sensitive appreciation for the interrelating factors at play in mental ill-health.