I was just thinking about this as I typed my post about Sirius Black...

In the wizarding world, what provisions are there for if someone's mentally ill?
I know it seems kinda random, but it's been playing on my mind...
Suppose someone is schitzophrenic? Or manic depressive?
They don't believe at all in muggle medicines, so how could such conditions be treated? Cos surely wizards are inherantly human in their phisiology...Look at Hermione for example, she may be a mutation *that's what a wizard born to muggle parents would be, to be honest...*, but she is still human, and succeptable to colds, etc, so why not mental illness?
Because in the books, it seems to me, the insane are merely left to their own devices, either sent to St. Mungo's, or left out to be laughed at cos they're KER-AY-ZEEEEE...
Harry, for instance, has had some NASTY depression in his time, were he a muggle, at say, a muggle boarding school, he'd be given antidepressants, but at Hogwarts, he was just avoided and ignored...
They can mend bones, heal wounds, fix nasty spells gone wrong...but seemingly not minds....

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

There are a lot of people that get depressed in high school and don't use anti-depressants.

*slight smile*

Yes, but it's not as simple as that...There is more to fighting depression and so on than just, being happy for a bit. Especially things like manic depression or similar, there are chemical imbalances in the brain that cause that kind of thing, they need to be treated with medication....
And I'm not bashing St. Mungo's in any way, but it does seem to be just like, a holding place for the mentally infirm...there doesn't seem to be any like....counselling, or anything....ech, I dunno...

Yeah, like what about people who are alcoholics, or sucidial or something, Mungoes has Magicial type of aid but what about those things?! Are wizards supposed to be able to fight colds and fangs of poisonous snakes but havent found any help for those who need to fight depression, or addiction or are sudcidial?

Humm, well if someone does have an emotional problem, I guess they just stay at St. Mungoes. They probably have theorpy there or something.

i never thought about this. although, i'm guessing they would treat their depressions the muggle way.

let's say, if someone was upset to the point where they just don't want to live anymore, they would go to counseling. i don't think there are any spell to make someone happy permanently (plus, that wouldn't be right...). if someone was mad to the point where they can't control themselves, i'm guessing they have to go to st. mungo's.

i'm guessing hogwarts don't really make a big deal out of their depressions. i'm guessing the professors think the students have enough sense to ask for help when they need it, and help them in any way that they can.

I agree with doomed_renascence.
If students are depressed the teachers would assume that they would have enough sense to ask them for help. I also think there is probaly medications for those kind of things and that JKR just hasn't metioned it yet. Maybe she won't mention it at all. I'm sure they have wizarding therapy.

another point...st mungos has a ward for the mentally unstable...the ward where lockhart, broderick bode and that lady who just barked...cant remember the name right now..was it the dai lywellen wardor was that the one where arthur weasley was staying???

It seems like wizards and witches are, well, built differenlt. In a case like Neville's, they seem to withstand physical obstacles that muggles cannot. Therefore, maybe they don't deal with depression in the same way, being raised on potions and magic. I think that things like depression are not exclusively for muggles, but, as it was mentioned before, it would be easier to become happy in their world if one were sad for an unspecific reason.

We know they can have mental instability because ****BOOK 6 SPOILER ALERT******



The Gaunts were known for a streak of mental troubles. It only flourished because they married their cousins.


I do not think they bother about curing/treating people with nonmagical means. There is a tradition (apparently) to use the old ways in the wizarding world. Muggle inovation is so recent that I do not think most wizards are aware of their advances.

I have a feeling that just like in the Muggle world, wizarding mental illnesses are swept underneath the carpet. In our world, mental illness resources are not in receipt of much government funding/or are not well covered by health insurance.

It seems as though witches and wizards who suffer from mental illness are probably healed temporarily with something like a cheering charm or another longer lasting version.

Dementors are the symbolism for depression so I wonder if an anti-dementor spell (say the Patronus charm) which consists of a strong happy emotion would be able to keep the feelings and emotions of being depressed away the same way that the spell manages to drive back dementors.

Sorry if my writing is not as coherant as usual, I'm recovering from general anaesthetic at the moment

I know this thread is old, but I just came across it. It does seem odd the way the seem to treat, or not as the case may be, mental instability. And as far as depressed students going to talk with their teachers, yeah, I doubt that would happen often. I agree that it would be ideal for them to talk to someone, anyone really, about their troubles but often times people who are depressed don't know it and if they do, they don't seem to want to talk about it. I say this based on my personal experiences with depression. If others find that I'm off-base, I apologize. As I said, this is just from my own experiences.

erm i have only just come acroos this thread too!


i liked this idea a lot makemeinvisible. I agree with that idea to soem degree. good thinking!

i think that those that are ill are sent to St Mungo's and looked after. peole there talk to them. talking to people would help them... as Auror14 said. it helps us "muggles" (sometimes!) I accept that it doesn't always work. I reackon that wizards and wicthes would have their ways... we have our medicines, they must have their spells or just better more delveloped medicines.
maybe J.K hasn't really created this... maybe if we asked her she wouldn't have an idea.
or maybe not.

Well I'm sure they have something for craziness like maybe a spell or something I don't know really but for depression there are potions and spells like that day in charms when they were practicing a happy charm(or something like that) and Ron had to be put in a room for an hour before he stopped laughing (Harry's fault) If someone got sad they would just do the spell and they would be happy!oh and sorry can't remember what book it was in all I remember was that Hermione wasn't there maybe it was the second one

I do feel that if there were some kind of spell to cure the mentally handicapped at St Mungos then there would be no need for a ward in the hospital for wizards and witches alike suffereing from these ailments and Neville's parents and Gilderoy Lockhart would be cured. But there are spells to make those that are sad, happy (Cheering Charms I think) and I'm sure there are others as well to cure minor ailments, (just can't think of those at the moment).

Marcey

If we are talking about 'muggle' illnesses, then I think that there must be a charm like Dracoslady says, the Cheering Charm. However, when you talk about patients in St Mungos like Nevilles parents and Lockhart, you are talking about some serious magic that has been done to scramble the brain.

You have to remember that the Longbottoms were tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange. we assume with the cruciatus curse. So it's obvious that even in the wizarding world there are some things that are incurable. Lockhart was just the victim of a broken wand so I expect that with patience, he will recover eventually,a bit like if you receive a bad head injury. it takes time to recover.

Yeah.....i agree....there is probably some kind of charm....because if you think about it.....magic is kind of like a medicine to them..... Same with potions.....But....yeah to me ....the whole longbottom insanity thng is like a cancer...or aids...a disease that just wont go away.

With lots of research and study, maybe eventually the witch and wizard "healers" at St Mungos may come up with a cure for the "insanity disease" that has struck the Longbottoms, its kinda like the Muggle illnesses like Cancer and AIDS that MalfoysLittle Weyotch mentioned above, many years of research may one day find a cure...Yeah I do agree that Lockhart with some patience may recover from the broken wand epidemic..

Marcey

I sure hope so! What happened to the Longbottoms made me so angry, I can't read about Bellatrix without getting uptight about it.
But I don't think Cheering Charms would work on something as large as depression. To me it seems a quick fix that will need constant replenishment, maybe they will have some other spell/potion for this.
I think that Lockhart might be able to Leave St.Mungos one day, after sitting it out, but I don't think he'lll be the same guy as in the 2nd book. Bit sad really .

I guess people in Wizarding world are getting mentali ill out of different reasons than in our.
There for potions may be worthless,same as some medicins are worthless for sirious illnesses in our world.We saw that witches and wizards are not Gods.

The wizarding world might have a potion or charm to help those who suffer from a mental illness, but I don't think anyone knows about them. Harry and Neville were suffering from depression through the whole series, and the only one who ever talked to Harry was Dumbledore, and that was at the end of the school year after Voldemort or some form of him tried to kill Harry. St. Mungos might be able to help with some of the symptoms, but there are so many things and not all of them work.

Charms and potions will only help for a while, what about the time when the potion or charm wears off? Maybe the "medicine" causes the wizards or witches magic to be weaker, come and go, or other things. It is magic that we're talkin' about here, so maybe there would be no side effects, but they are physiogoly the same as muggels.

Osz

Well it does sound like a worrying matter. But just because JK does not mention it does not mean, there is nothing for people suffering with mental illness. I assume there would be people like counsellers in St.Mungo, i mean come on, people like Dumbledore exists in that world and knows and understands how much talking and sharing helps. Your right though Ignatius, what Bellatrix did was unforgivable and I so wish there was a way to cure the Longbottoms but Lockhart, I certainly wish he does not appear the same as he was before. Ever.

err there was one disease called hallucination i didn't know whether it was a magical illness or an ordinary one....so i m not pretty sure

In the wizarding world maybe the sufferer has different symptoms and such with "muggle illnesses" than what "muggles" would. I guess depending on the severity of the illness would depend on how easy the illness would be to cure overall. Look at Voldy for example, he is a total Sociopath with narcissistic tendencies. He shows lack of empathy for others, he shows no remorse for his actions that he has commited against others, and all he cares about is himself. The only cure for a Sociopath is heavily medicated such as Lithium. If Voldy could have been stopped before he got started he probaly would have ended up in a loony bin like St Mungo's.

Marcey

Well, I think that the most of the wizards and witches are a bit of ... madness. No serious stuff, but ... remember Arkie, I think he was called, at book forth? Well, that's only an example, actually ... But that's true, I don't know how they manage for mend mental illness, except for the ward at St Mungo's.

Some wizarding illnesses there may be no cure for even with the aid of a magic wand, look at the Lonbottoms for example. I don't think that there is any cure for them at all, the spell cast on them was far to powerful even for the Healers at St Mungos to cure...Its sad really how the wizarding mental ilnesses sort of reflect the "muggle" mental illnesses so close...

Marcey

I agree. It was the case with Ariana, too, although I'm not sure whether that counts entirely as a mental illness. I guess there are some things that no one can cure, even with a wand.

Well, probably St. Mungo's, yeah. But remember, Arianna, DD's little sister was made a bit unstable by the muggles and stuff and she was just kept away from others that may not understand why she was how she was. But that's probably what families may do or they may just send them to St. Mungos.

I think there's diseases like this in the magical population, like there are colds and all that stuff. Do we no for a fact that there is no ward for it in St. Mungo's, and that wizards have no medicines concerning it? Maybe there's some potion that can help with depression? Who knows?

As far as Ariana getting no treatment, that might have been her parent's choice, to keep her safe or something, so she wouldn't hurt anyone. Or maybe they thought that she was beyond treatment. Or maybe they tried the treatments at home and they didn't work. I don't know, this is pure speculation.

The Longbottoms were tourtured into insanity, so they really wouldn't count, would they?
But look at Voldemort. He murdered people, he hated Muggles, Muggle borns, dirty blooded wizards. To be honest, in my eyes he is like a Wizard form of Adolf Hitler. He killed the people he thought were worthless in the Wizarding World, who he thought the world would be better off without- Hitler did the same thing to the Jewish people. Voldemort's followers tourtured, and killed Wizards who got in their way, and who Voldemort told them too kill. (Example: The first Order, the Longbottoms, the Potters), Hitler's followers did the same thing.
If you are a murder, then yes I believe you have a mental illness. Because some people claim they are crazy, or bi-polar when they kill someone, some people just kill. (Serial killers, they don't half the people they murder. They just, kill. You don't believe they have an illness?)
So, in my eyes, I believe there can be mental illness in Wizards. Voldemort is a walking, breathing example.

In a strange way, that actually makes some kind of sense. You'd have to be crazy to disregard so many lives, muggle or magic. In novels or in real life, the bad guy who does all of the killing and causes all of the problems is called 'crazy'. What if that isn't just a mean name or a metaphor? What if these 'people', for want of a better word, are really just insane? I don't think there's a cure for that in the magic world or the normal one.

This is a fascinating subject 'specially for me as I have a mental illness and wonder what the "magical" world would make of it? I have been diagnosed with DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) what used to be called MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder) and in the muggle world where they used to therapize this condition, now they just medicate it. Odd, isn't it. Really makes me wonder what they would do!

I don't think there is much difference in how or how frequently mental illness expresses itself in the wizarding world as opposed to the muggle world. I do believe, however, that there might be a difference in the way mental illness is viewed.

Before social-darwinism emerged in the nineteenth century mental illnesses or depressions and such were simply considered to be personal deviations from normality, or in severe cases one might dispatch them to a lunatic asylum and let them live their lives there. There wasn't much in the way of treatments and "madness" was very loosely categorized, meaning that sometimes mad people were considered healthy and healthy people considered mad.

It wasn't until the scientific revolution in the nineteenth century that studies began to emerge on th psyche more widely, largely thanks to the belief that madness was an inherited trait and as such was to be stopped to further the social-darwinistic goals which were common belief then.

The question is, did the scientific revolution and the belief in social-darwinism hit the wizarding world as well? To some extent it must have, but my belief is that the loose definitions of madness from before the nineteenth century lived on. The intense study of the psyche which was undertaken by muggles between 185o and 195o (approximately) probably never hit on in the wizarding society.

Someone mentioned earlier that the wizarding world probably hasn't really realised how far the muggles have come, and that they, in some fields, have gone further than the wizarding community, which, I think, far too often rely on their magical abilities than they do general knowledge. The benefits of such an "intellectual awakening" in the wizarding world would be immense.