The world’s fifth museum of psychiatry in Tehran

The Iran’s first psychiatric museum was opened as a research museum at Roozbeh Hospital, Iran. Previously, the psychiatric museums were launched in Spain, Germany, Belgium, and Denmark. Join us to explore the world’s fifth psychiatric museum in Tehran, Iran.

Dr. Mohammad Arbabi, the Director of the Museum of Psychiatry and the Faculty Member of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences said: several important questions which have played a role in setting up this museum include: what is mental illness? How did ancestors treat patients? What treatments are currently prescribed for patients? What is the prospect of this field? etc. among consequences of setting up this museum are improvement in people’s communication with mental illness, and decrease in the negative view of mental patients in society. On December 12th, we managed to open the first phase of the museum about the cultural heritage and history of Iranian psychiatry in the library of Roozbeh Hospital.

This museum is supposed to demonstrate the historical course of psychiatry knowledge and mental patients. Therefore, in the first phase, seven sections have been considered. The first section deals with the history of mental illness before the pre-Islamic, the ancient and the post-Islamic eras as well as prominent Iranian physicians. On the second section, we confront with the dark ages of psychiatry, and we have shown how awfully patients were treated. The third section shows the beginning of the activities of the psychiatric hospital during the Qajar period with Dr. Nasr’s photos. The fourth section is about the establishment of the first asylum in 1950 (1329 solar year) in the land near Horr Square named Roozbeh which brought a great change in the country. The fifth section deals with the relationship between art and psychiatry, which shows the cinema works associated with psychiatry. The sixth section deals with psychiatry in Iran and its relationships with the world, and the creation of specialized tendencies to poetry, children and adolescents and writers. The seventh section refers to community-based psychiatry, and that we ought to improve the facilities and welfare in societies to reduce the number of mental illnesses.

Enthusiast in visiting the Museum of Psychiatry could drift in Roozbeh Hospital, South Kargar St, Tehran, from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM on working days.