Rehabilitation of the Mentally Ill is Improvement of Their Quality of Life: Theoretical & Methodological Aspects Researched and drafted by Professor M.M. Kabanov, of the St. Petersburg Psychoneurological Research Institute EXCERPTED TEXT/OVERVIEW: The notion "rehabilitation" has long been used in jurisprudence. In medicine it became widely used in the second half of the twentieth century. However, only very few people know the fact that already in medieval Spain, in the epoch of the Holy Inquisition, the monks of one of the monasteries in the environs of Salamanca began, when giving care to the mentally ill, to use measures that can be classified today, to a considerable extent, as rehabilitation. Even the term “rehabilitation” was in use at that time. Earlier than that, since the 13th century, on the territory of today’s Belgium, there existed, and is likely still to exist now, a small village of Guilles which has been a permanent residence for the mentally ill, where, owing to their relatively liberal way of life, they serve themselves and realise in practice the elements of modern rehabilitation positions. Specialists know very well the work of such predecessors of the rehabilitation trend in psychiatry as Ph.Pinel, D.B.Tuke and D.Conolly. The concept of rehabilitation of ill and disabled persons in its modern interpretation received its further development in the years of World War II in Anglo-Saxon countries. (. . . Complete article available in the Journal Archives) General Editorial Overview Journal Home Copyright © 2002-2011 The Bibliotheque: World Wide Society