Treatment of the mentally ill in medieval Europe was inadequate at best, and gruesome at its worst.

Today we have the luxury of knowing that mental illnesses have nothing to do with bodily fluids, witchcraft or supernatural forces beyond our control, but that they are in fact treatable and manageable.

In this video we explore the commonplace - as well as the most bizarre methods that physicians employed to try and relieve symptoms of frenzy, fatuity and melancholia (aka. madness, dementia and depression) and other mental illnesses.

From punching holes in the body to administering herbs by...unconventional means. We'll explore it all.