The Aktouarios John Zacharias and his Treatise on the “Psychic Pneuma”-a Byzantine Burnout Therapy? by #UniLodz Podcasts

The Aktouarios John Zacharias (c. 1275–1330) and his treatise on the “Psychic Pneuma”: a Byzantine “Burnout Therapy”?
Isabel Grimm-Stadelmann

Nowadays, many people suffer from illnesses characterised as “burnout”, “depressive disorders”, or “emotional exhaustion”. Constitutes the state of being physically and emotionally burnt out exclusively a contemporary problem, or report also historical sources on comparable phenomena and the associated challenges for therapists and patients? John Zacharias, a high-ranking Byzantine physician and aktouarios describes and analyses in his two-part treatise On Psychic Pneuma impairments quite comparable to today’s “burnout symptoms”.
In her talk, prof. Isabel Grimm-Stadelmann (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities) discusses John Zacharias’ advice on how internal blockages causing physical and psychological problems can be avoided, balanced, or completely eliminated by means of a balanced diet, sufficient exercise in the fresh air, aroma bathing therapy, and judiciously coordinated phases of activity and rest.

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The lecture was held November 7 2023 at the Institute of History, University of Lodz, under the project: Horizons of the humanities 2023: Lodz meetings with foreign researchers of Antiquity, Middle Ages and Modern Period conducted by the Ceraneum Centre, University of Lodz. The event was funded by the Lodz City Council under the framework of the „Łódź Akademicka – Naukowa, Kreatywna i Wielokulturowa 2022/23” programme.