system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How did people/society deal with depression, burn-out-like symptoms and therefore an inability to work in times before modern psychology?
gpt
Before psychology what we refer to as depression was called "melancholy" or "The melancholy". We understood in general that certain people would feel certain ways and not be able to recover from it. We didn't understand what exactly caused it but we understood that it was a real thing.

Often times it wasn't treated. Many turned to drugs or alcohol to self medicate. The most popular drug was opium as it stimulated the pleasure centers of the brain. It wasn't until 1909 that opium other than for medical use was banned in the US.