Schoeneman T J
J Hist Behav Sci. 1977 Oct;13(4):337-51.
Historians of psychiatry have propagated the view that the witch hunts of sixteenth and seventeenth-century Europe were primarily a persecution of the mentally ill and that demonological concepts of possession and witchcraft impeded psychiatric progress for centuries. The author reviews the evidence marshaled by these historians and examines additional historical material bearing on the psychopathological view. He concludes that the role of mental disorder in the witch hunts has been overinflated by authors with an interest in promulgating the medical model of abnormal behavior. Furthermore, the psychopathological paradigm is based on an outmoded philosophy of science, which results in historical distortion and paradoxes, and on restriction and selectivity in the choice of evidence.
精神病学历史学家宣扬这样一种观点，即16和17世纪欧洲的猎巫行动主要是对精神病人的迫害，而且附体和巫术的魔鬼学概念阻碍了精神病学几个世纪的发展。作者回顾了这些历史学家所搜集的证据，并审视了与这种精神病理学观点相关的其他历史资料。他得出结论，对宣扬异常行为医学模式感兴趣的作者夸大了精神障碍在猎巫行动中的作用。此外，精神病理学范式基于一种过时的科学哲学，这导致了历史扭曲和悖论，以及在证据选择上的局限和片面性。
