Abstract

Objectives:  The present study was designed to trace the literature related to the history of psychopathology and mental health in Middle Persian manuscripts.

Method: The method consisted of library research into the hand written manuscripts and the collection of Middle Persian (Pahlavi) texts dating back to some fifteen hundred years ago.

Findings: The frequency of the term ravan (psyche) and its lexical combinations reveal the basis of psychopathology, techniques of mental health care, and the history of psychology in ancient Persia.