The Period of Persecution:

Earlier. treatment of  the  inentally sick depended on men's various superstitious beliefs.  It was thought that sounds and motions are  the factors of  illness of health, black spirit or black magic was harmful and white magic and good spirit did not bring illness. Patients with mental illness were thrown out of  society and beaten up by the people. During this period no nursing was required as no body was allowed to keep any relationship with  these patients. They were tortured and left on  their own. 

Period of Segregation:

To prevent the mentally ill patients from straying into streets, they were put separately in asylums. In England, these patients were put  in  the  'Bethlem Asylum' for the first time. Because of  its  uncontrolled activities and defening noise made by  the patients the English word  'Bedlam' was derived for Bethlem.  

The Government funded these hospitals but patients did not have adequate conditions to live. 

During this period the field of psychiatry had not developed. The aim was to segregate patients from  the general public. 

Humanitarian Period 

During this period more and more asylums were set up. Physicians got interested in working on mental  illnesses. In  the later part of the century, Phillippe Pinel in France and William Tuke in  England opened the chains of mentally ill. More patients were taken care on humanitarian grounds. In  1972, William Tuke founded the York Retreat Hospital  in  England and provided total care to the patients without restrains or chains. During  this period also no mention of nurses was  made. In  1773, in  the United States mental patients were admitted to Pennsylvania Hospital, but no special training were given to nurses. Nurses with general nursing qualification looked after mentally ill patients.