hi from wat ive studied people was thrown in an asylum ,

I don't think it was treated at all. It is technically classified as a mental disease. It was not something that people talked about openly until the last few decades. As the previous poster commented, I agree that the severely depressed and manic deppresives were probably taken to a hospital so that it did not look bad on that family. Not that this is the only way things were handled. I also believe that the suicide rate was much higher in those times.

I believe one of the first men to characterise a low mood which continuous throughout a decent margin is Aristotle. He describes it as "melancholy". He believed this was induced by an increase of black bile in the body. His philosophical thinkings concluded that the body was made of four humours and any inbalance of such would result in a dysfuntion.

However so, one of him famous quotes "Melancholy men are of all other the most witty".

How to cure. "Healthy mind, healthy body"

"Νους υγιής εν σώματι υγιεί".

Make sense...

I prefer the term melancholy to be honest .