Melancholia in Chahâr Maqâle , a 12th-century Persian text

Abstract

Little is known about the life of Ahmed ibn Umar ibn Ali. He reached Iran and became the court poet of the sultan Sanjar. His monumental four discourses, addresses the four professions indispensable for a sound ruler: poet, civil secretary, astrologer and physician. Four Discourses is rich in cultural history. Contemporary readers can compare symptoms across time and space. In one anecdote on melancholia, a person dear to the Buyid ruler becomes so delusional that he considers himself a cow. He asks people to kill and eat him even as he fasts. Since no physician could treat him, the ruler entreats his trusted Avicenna, who dispatches two men with word of a butcher's arrival. The young man rejoices. As they bind his limbs, Avicenna inspects him like a butcher, but protests that he is too thin for slaughter. Avicenna orders specific foods and medicines to fatten him up. The young man cheerfully obliges. Avicenna continues to consult and within a month the man's health returns. Notable lessons can be drawn from this anecdote. Like today, one millennium ago physicians struggled to manage psychotic depression. Avicenna status as minister also reveals the historical esteem of physicians. Finally, physicians working within the patient's psychological world tend to succeed, even through unorthodox means. This helps explain Avicenna's lasting reputation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)