What happened to the mentally retarded people before they had modern institutions specifically in bible times?

Question

I want to know if they were cast out to fend for themselves or killed...etc.

Answer 1

Exorcisms, and when that didn't work they silently killed them.

Answer 2

exorcisms

Answer 3

I think it was probably a mixture of things. Religous practices, shunning, starving, killing and some people would have just been accepted as the fool of the village. I'm not too sure though but even in the 50s and 60s in the UK teenagers who fell pregnant were put in mental institutions and were deemed ill.

Answer 4

I guess they casted otu the demons in them or they were left for their mothers to take care of them

Answer 5

they were usually cast off to live in the streets out of shame to the family, thank god people don't do that anymore.

Answer 6

they were kept indoors, away from outsiders, the family looked after them.

Answer 7

bobsyour gave the best answer.  There *were* no rules, in general, about how to treat such people.  Did you see the recent PBS special about the family whose children (nearly all) are mentally disabled in such a way that they walk on all fours?  They live in (very) rural Turkey.  They are ridiculed and, sometimes, persecuted by the locals, and some consider them to be possessed by demons, but they are well-cared for by their family.

Undoubtedly, the same was true in biblical times.  The care of any individual with a mental disease depended on the consideration and wealth of their family.

Jim, http://www.jimpettis.com/wheel/

Answer 8

they probably were killed in a humane way by family members who could not support someone...its only a guess but if they were completely helpless and there not really being a social welfare system, what do you think might have happened...its a shocking thought but there wasnt such things as forensics and police...who knows what people could get away with...lets hope they just got looked after and fed and clothed every day...