100 years ago, people with mental illness were assumed to be "possessed by demons" and were either institutionalized against their will, lobotomized, or both. Or just left to die.
People are still institutionalized against their will others are left to die on the streets, but not all mental illness is particularly severe.
Psychoanalysis while mostly quackery is ~135 years old providing an example where talking was considered a viable therapy not just locking people up or tossing out lobotomies left and right to anyone slightly abnormal.
So sure, 100 years ago there was quackery just as today, but “possessed by demons” wasn’t considered mainstream back then any more than it is today.
