Important Milestones in Psychiatry and Psychiatric Nursing Ancient to 18th Century ✅ Hippocrates (460–370 BC) – Proposed that mental disorders are due to natural causes, not supernatural forces. ✅ St. Mary of Bethlehem Hospital (Bedlam) (16th Century, London) – One of the first mental asylums, infamous for inhumane treatment. ✅ Philippe Pinel (1793, France) – Introduced “Moral Treatment”, removed chains from mentally ill patients. ✅ Dorothea Dix (1841, USA) –