One of the treatments applied by Ottoman physicians to heal patients with mental problems was music therapy. The civilizations that applied the method of treatment with music the most are the Ottoman and Seljuk. It is known that Sultan Bayezid II ordered patients to be treated with the sound of water and music in the hospital he built in Edirne in 1488.
MENTAL health is in harmony with the individual himself and his environment. is that it is. Impairment of mental health is defined as "a state of inconsistency, disharmony and excess that occurs in cognition, emotion and actions." It must visibly disrupt functioning and interpersonal relationships. Like a person constantly arguing with the people around him...
For example, the state of extremism is when a person experiences his emotions to the maximum while showing his love and anger. Or inconsistency, for example, when talking about a person, he exalts him to the sky and a little later he criticizes him.
Our soul gets sick and heals just like our body. Just as it is normal for the body to get sick, it is also normal for the soul to get sick. Spirit and body are a whole and work in balance. When the balance begins to deteriorate, mental and physical diseases occur.
When you say "being healthy", the first thing that comes to mind is physical health. When "mental health" or "mental disorder" is mentioned, people hesitate to consult mental health experts because the definition of "madness" or "mental illness" comes to mind. While a person with blood pressure disease does not hide his illness, anxiety, depression, bipolar or borderline patients hide their illness. They think that being sick is their fault or a shortcoming. They say that they have to hide their illness from society because they think they will be excluded from society and will not be able to find a job.
A person with a heart problem can go to a doctor and ask for help without hesitation. While this situation is considered a normal situation in society, it is not that easy for a person experiencing psychological distress to express this and seek help. sleeping. Because, first of all, he has a hard time accepting that this is an illness. The first thing that comes to your mind is the thought, "I'm not crazy" or "If I tell anyone what I'm going through, they'll call me crazy." Going to a psychiatrist or psychologist does not make you crazy. On the contrary, postponing them, suppressing them, or looking for solutions on your own will drag you into an inextricable vortex. Just as there is an expert in every job, it is necessary to trust an expert in mental health. It is wrong to think that it will go away on its own. Problems that were postponed, ignored and suppressed will appear before us in the future as an avalanche.
Practices for psychological health in the Ottoman Empire
During the Ottoman period, "bîmâristân, bîmârhâne, Hospitals called 'şifahâne' or 'dârüşşifa' were built. Our ancestors, who were well aware of the relationship between psychological and physical health, made great efforts to help patients regain their health with different methods and techniques and continued their work meticulously. They showed the importance they gave to the construction of buildings when choosing the physicians who would work in these hospitals, and they also imposed certain rules for the physicians who would work here. In the foundation deed of Haseki Sultan dated 1551, the following criteria were set for the management of the hospital and the approach of doctors to patients: "Doctors should be people who have a cool heart, good morals, good nature, free from anxiety, sincere, compassionate and treat patients well."
Although these rules are still valid today, the correct approach to the patient should also be like this. Because it is important for people who can be companions in the journey of healing to patients with broken hearts and tired hearts to act "naively".
There is something that people ignore today: When a person gets sick "spiritually", those who consider him/her sick, "a person". To forget that people in this situation are also human beings breathing like themselves, by seeing adjectives such as "incomprehensible, crazy, out of their mind"...
While I was doing my internship at the hospital, one of the patients came to me and asked for a cigarette. I politely told him that I did not smoke. The friend next to me, who was an intern like me, turned to me and said, "You're crazy, why are you even talking to me and answering?" dem It was work. I said to him, “He is a human being like you! The only difference is that he's inside and you're outside!” I replied: It is important for people who will work in the field of mental health to meet the criteria in the Ottoman period, to be cool-hearted, moral, good-natured, free from anxiety, sincere, compassionate and to treat patients well, both professionally and in terms of being beneficial to the patient. The secret to being successful in this profession is to love and respect oneself first and then other people. Any work done without love and respect will not bring any benefit, it will only be a burden on a person.
Another example of the value given to patients in the Ottoman period is as follows: In the Beyazıt Social Complex, in the section reserved for mental patients, "forty" mental patients were treated as "one hundred". Fifty caregivers provided service. (Şeker, 1987)
Architecture, nature, aroma therapy, healthy nutrition and music were used in psychological health practices during the Ottoman period. Evliya Çelebi talked about the architectural features of the hospital in Edirne as follows: "There is a winter room under eight arches. While one of the two windows in each room looks at the Baharistan vineyard outside the room with its trees, rose garden and sunbulistan, the other one looks at the fountain and fountain of the large pool in the middle of the large dome.”
In the rooms in this hospital, people suffering from all kinds of diseases, People were treated regardless of age (rich, poor, old and young). Additionally, treatments were applied according to the nature of the patients; On winter days, a fire was lit and patients were served on feather beds, quilts and silk pillows. In the spring season, various flowers such as jasmine, rose-i nesrin, wallflower, carnation, basil, tulip, violet, judas tree, peony, narcissus, hyacinth and saffron were given.
The mentally ill and other patients were given from the Keykavus kitchen. Depending on the patient's problem, hunters would bring birds such as partridge, pheasant, pigeon, turtle dove, goose, duck and nightingale, and these birds would be cooked according to the patient's wishes and wishes and served to the patient. (Evliya Çelebi, 2006)
One of the treatments applied by Ottoman physicians to heal patients with mental problems is music therapy. The civilizations that applied the method of treatment with music the most are the Ottoman and Seljuk. It is known that Sultan Bayezid II ordered the patients to be treated with the sound of water and music in the hospital he built in Edirne in 1488. Rehavi in calming hyperactive and excited patients; He wrote in his Seyahatname that Kûçî maqams are good for distressed, pessimistic, stagnant and joyless patients.
I wish you healthy days…
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