Was OCD Discovered 1,000 Years Ago? How a 9th-Century Polymath, Al-Balkhi, Changed Psychology

The history of mental illness is full of surprises, and psychology's timeline isn't always as linear as it seems. Most people assume mental health conditions, diagnosis and the study of mental illnesses began in the modern world and started only in the last two hundred years or so. While modern psychiatry often credits 19th-century European doctors for identifying Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), it was actually discovered by Abu Zayd al-Balkhi, a 9th-century Persian polymath. In his groundbreaking manuscript Sustenance of the Body and Soul (written around 900 CE), Al-Balkhi accurately described OCD symptoms, which he called Waswas (obsessions).

However, a look at an unnoticed historical manuscript, penned by a lesser-known polymath from the Islamic Golden Age, indicates that the entire timeline should be up for revision and rewritten by a much larger margin than anticipated.

What Was Actually Found About Al-Balkhi and OCD?

For many years it was believed that Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) was the first known description of OCD, but the diagnostic concepts of modern medicine were only fully developed in the 19th century. A 2015 study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders challenged that timeline directly. 

Researchers Rania Awaad and Sara Ali found that Abu Zayd al-Balkhi, a 9th century polymath, had already distinguished between obsessional disorders and other mental illnesses in his treatise Sustenance of the Body and Soul.

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What Exactly Did Al-Balkhi's Treatise Cover?

Al-Balkhi's work went well beyond a passing mention of obsessive symptoms. According to a summary of the study on Medium, his treatise included:

• Classification of obsessional disorders as distinct from other psychological conditions
• Detailed symptom descriptions
• Predisposing factors behind the condition
• Specific treatment approaches for managing it

How Closely Does Al-Balkhi's Work Match Modern OCD Diagnosis?

Surprisingly closely, according to the researchers. Al-Balkhi's description of obsessive disorders stemming from an individual's innate temperament parallels the DSM-5 characterisation of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder, according to a summary from MuslimSG.

This isn't just a decade-old claim either. A more recent 2025 BJPsych Open study went further, directly comparing Al-Balkhi's 9th-century descriptions against the current ICD-11 diagnostic classification used by clinicians worldwide today. The researchers found his work anticipated aspects of modern therapeutic approaches, including cognitive-behavioural techniques, social support, and activity engagement, for managing obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

Why Did This Discovery Take So Long to Be Recognised?

Part of the answer lies in how mental illness was historically documented. Perceptions of mental illness have always been shaped by social context, which means psychological symptoms in the past were often grouped very differently than they are in modern classification systems, according to the Journal of Affective Disorders study. Genuine matches to modern conditions, like OCD, are rare enough in historical texts that Al-Balkhi's treatise went largely unrecognised in mainstream psychiatric history until researchers specifically went looking for it.

Al-Balkhi also took a notably progressive stance for his time. He treated mental health as a legitimate medical concern rather than dismissing psychological distress as simply a lack of faith, according to MuslimSG.

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Conclusion

Was OCD discovered 1,000 years ago? The historical and scientific evidence increasingly says yes, credited to a 9th-century polymath whose work was overlooked by mainstream psychiatric history for centuries. Al-Balkhi's treatise didn't just casually mention obsessive symptoms. It classified, diagnosed, and proposed treatment approaches that modern researchers say genuinely align with today's diagnostic standards.

thumbnail image credit: Google Gemini AI