{"title":"Soul, body and mental health - applying Rabbi Moshe de Maimon's philosophy to the contemporary phenomenon of drug addiction.","authors":"Yula Milshteyn","doi":"10.1177/0957154X241230271","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In modern psychiatry, drug addiction is considered as mainly a mental disorder and a brain disease problem, of complex aetiology. In addition, drug addiction has been characterized as a loss of willpower or akrasia, and even a sin. In this essay, I analyse Maimonides' (Rambam's) treatises <i>More Ha-Nevuchim</i> (<i>Guide for the Perplexed</i>) and <i>Shemona Perakim</i> (<i>The Eight Chapters</i>). He asserts that the soul is one, but has many different faculties (functions) and is intrinsically linked to the body. I argue that drug addiction is a psychological, social-moral deviance, as well as straying from God's path. Addiction is a disorder of the soul and body. Consequently, healing should include social-moral guidelines as well as physical/bodily health.</p>","PeriodicalId":45965,"journal":{"name":"History of Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":"196-205"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"History of Psychiatry","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0957154X241230271","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/2/8 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"HISTORY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In modern psychiatry, drug addiction is considered as mainly a mental disorder and a brain disease problem, of complex aetiology. In addition, drug addiction has been characterized as a loss of willpower or akrasia, and even a sin. In this essay, I analyse Maimonides' (Rambam's) treatises More Ha-Nevuchim (Guide for the Perplexed) and Shemona Perakim (The Eight Chapters). He asserts that the soul is one, but has many different faculties (functions) and is intrinsically linked to the body. I argue that drug addiction is a psychological, social-moral deviance, as well as straying from God's path. Addiction is a disorder of the soul and body. Consequently, healing should include social-moral guidelines as well as physical/bodily health.
期刊介绍:
History of Psychiatry publishes research articles, analysis and information across the entire field of the history of mental illness and the forms of medicine, psychiatry, cultural response and social policy which have evolved to understand and treat it. It covers all periods of history up to the present day, and all nations and cultures.