Homayun Shahpesandy

Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, UK

Title: Uncovering Jun?n (Madness): Classical Arabic-Islamic Classifications of Psychosis and Their Modern Parallels

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Biography

Abstract

This study explores classical Arabic classifications of jun?n (madness) in Arabic-Islamic medical literature, unveiling a diagnostic framework that parallels modern systems such as ICD-10 and DSM-5. Drawing from foundational texts by al-?abar?, al-R?z?, al-Maj?s?, Ibn S?n?, and others, we identify a tripartite classification:

1.Symptomatic psychoses (a?r?? t?bi?a li-l-amr??) –  include ikhtil?? al-takhayyul (corruption of imagination), ikhtil?? al-?aql (corruption of reason), sub?r? (delirium), suk?t (organic mutism) - arising from conditions like sars?m (meningoencephalitis) or bars?m (pleurisy), corresponding to organic psychotic disorders (F06.2) and ikhtil?? al-?aql al-k??in ?an al-shar?b (alcohol-induced madness), corresponding to alcoholic psychosis, F10.5.

2.Permanent psychoses (al-jun?n al-th?bit) - include al-jun?n al-h?yij (mania), jun?n mu?baq (absolute madness), d?? al-kalb (“dog’s disease,” mixed psychosis), qu?rub (agitated zoanthropic psychosis), and jun?n dawr? (cyclical psychosis). These align with schizophrenia-spectrum (F20), bipolar disorder with psychotic features (F31.2), and persistent delusional disorder (F22).

3.Reactive and other psychoses such as raj?? (pseudocyesis), ?umm? min al-si?r (sorcery-induced psychosis), and ?ishq (love-madness) reflect brief psychotic disorder (F23) and culture-bound syndromes.

Classical Arabic psychiatric taxonomy was systematic, precise, and stable across Islamic medical traditions, fostering a shared clinical language. Through Latin translations by Constantinus Africanus and Gerard of Cremona, texts such as al-R?z?’s al-??w?, al-Maj?s?’s Kit?b al-Malak?, and Ibn S?n?’s al-Q?n?n f? al-?ibb became foundational in European medical curricula, with Avicenna’s Canon remaining central until the seventeenth century.

This study highlights the historical significance and diagnostic sophistication of Islamic classifications of jun?n (insanity), advocating for their inclusion in a pluralistic, historically grounded understanding of global psychiatric knowledge.