What did the Romans—ordinary people or historians like Herodianus and Plinius—call the people who today are considered, in the modern sense, "autistic", or "schizoid". In fact, how did they define people who met asocial characteristics?
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2Like almost all diagnoses of clinical psychology, these are very modern categories that weren't distinguished and/or didn't meaningfully exist before the 20th century. You aren't going to find contemporary Roman terminology for them.– CairnarvonCommented Aug 5, 2023 at 22:10
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The study of the brain/psychology in any serious way is about 100 years old. The ancients likely just called these types of people crazy or dumb.– Stephen DarrenkampCommented Aug 7, 2023 at 1:08
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depending on the specific individual being referred to and their relationship with the writer there's a good chance you'd see words whose translation would now be considered offensive. It is occasionally suggested that schizophrenia and related illnesses might be connected to ancient accounts of prophecy etc so it's possible they might be described as a propheta, vates, fatidicus, etc– TristanCommented Aug 8, 2023 at 14:23
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