Problems of Psychiatry in the Highlands and Islands

Medical aspects of the tour by Martin Martin (c 1660-1719) of the Western and Northern Islands of Scotland, Circa 1695

This review is based investigations on the Western Isles, Scotland, by Martin Martin, a notable Scottish Highlander, academic and medical doctor, of the 17th-18th century. His extensive observations of the geography and peoples of these Isles were recorded in his books, "On the Description of the Western Islands of Scotland Circa 1695" and "A Late Voyage to St Kilda". In these books and subsequent papers there were some noteworthy observations on the occurrence (and as he says non-occurrence) of "epidemical" diseases and conditions afflicting the peoples of The Isle of Skye and the Western Isles of Scotland in this period, and these are discussed in this review. Martin also gives details of a wide variety of remedies that were observed or reported by inhabitants around that time. Some of these remedies are interesting for their relevance to the period but others are of doubtful merit. These are reviewed here more for their significance in the understanding of the diseases and conditions of humans and even in some cases animals at that time. Introductions by Charles Withers and R.W. Munro, 11 and re-assessments of the contributions of Martin and colleagues of that time have given insight into the health and condition of peoples of the Western Isles of Scotland(the Occidental) (Martin 1695; Martin 1716).

Scottish views of mental illness

A brief historical review of Scottish attitudes to the mentally ill is followed by a description of the 1966 Edinburgh survey of opinion on mental illness. This was carried out by structured interview on a random sample of the Edinburgh population. Part of the instrument, which had been carefully pretested and developed for this purpose, was submitted to 12 consultants in the professorial teaching units of Scottish University Medical Schools. The psychiatrists' opinions were compared with those of the general public and several differences were discovered. The public were more fearful and less optimistic than the specialists and their ideas of the causation of mental illness were connected with environmental rather than personality factors. Since the younger, better educated members of the community held views closest to those of the psychiatrists it is suggested that the opinion gap would probably lessen still further, encouraging more patients to seek specialist attention and putting extra pressure upon the available treatment facilities.