Doctor Arthur Hertzler, a doctor in the west, recalled in his autobiography an episode that happened when he was younger. For a couple of weeks, he had suffered sharp pains in his back which exuded into his groin area. On seeing a doctor, the diagnosis was that young Arthur Hertzler was growing too fast.

One of the biggest problem in the west when it came to medical care, was misdiagnosis. It was often vague and attributed to the fact that the doctor himself had absolutely no clue what was causing the disease. Doctors had no laboratories and instruments to help with diagnosis.

Menstrual cramps, known today to occur as a result of the uterus contracting, was believed to be caused by uterine congestion. This congestion came to be due to the patient (Of course a woman) reading too many romantic novels! The solution? Avoid reading romantic novels or indeed any literature that stimulated the mind and body. So much for cramps easing!

Mental illness was the most misunderstood human disorder. Some doctors believed it was caused by an oversupply of blood in the brain, while others thought it a punishment from God for a wrong doing. Many sufferers of mental illness in the west was caused by syphilis which is today known to be a sexually transmitted disease.

Untreated, syphilis progressed to the tertiary stage and attacked the brain tissue, resulting in mental illness.

The insane were often locked up alongside criminals, or kept somewhere in the house, out of sight from normal people. If the insanity was thought to have been caused by evil spirits, then the spirits were removed physical—beating the devil out the poor patient. A drill was also sometimes used to construct a means of escape for the evils spirits locked up in the skull.

On a lighter note, many spinsters suffered from hysteria. It was believed to be caused by sexual deprivation. The treatment –marriage.