MADNESS (שִׁגָּעﯴן, H8714, impetuosity or fury; הﯴלֵלﯴת, H2099, foolishness; μανία, G3444, frenzy, delirium). Ancient people were universally in awe of mental illness and attributed it to some activity of a demon. In the OT insanity was regarded as the punishment of God upon those who disobeyed His laws (Deut 28:28). Saul was perhaps the most notable figure in the OT to reveal such affliction, and the statement was made, “Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him” (1 Sam 16:14). When David fled from Saul, he found it expedient to act the part of a mad man in the presence of Achish because he feared him (21:12-15).

The NT also reflected the conviction of the ancient world that demons and devils were active agents behind all mental and emotional abnormality. When a man was deranged, he was described as being possessed; and there were many exorcists who practiced among the Jews, representing themselves as having power over the demons. Jesus’ experience in the country of the Gerasenes was typical. The madman lived among the tombs, being described as having an unclean spirit. This violent creature could not be restrained. After Jesus’ ministry to him, he was described as “clothed and in his right mind” (Mark 5:1-20).

The belief that the human mind was subject to the control of spirits is evidenced in many ancient cemeteries where the skulls which have been found were trepanned. A hole had been bored in the skull in many instances, and from subsequent bone growth and the smallness of the hole (too small to be of any surgical value), it is evident that the operation had been performed to let the evil spirit out. It is known that the disk of bone which was removed by such a surgical procedure often was worn as an amulet around the patient’s neck to ward off the return of the spirit. In one cemetery out of 120 skulls six had been trepanned which would show the intensity of the belief of the ancient world in the control of spirits over human minds. It was thought that there were seven and one half million such demons, one or more for every human malady.

See [http://biblegateway/wiki/Diseases of the Bible DISEASES].