humoralteorin

Humoralteorin, or humoral theory, is an ancient medical framework that explains health and disease as a result of the balance or imbalance of four bodily fluids, or humors: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. The theory originated with ancient Greek physicians, most famously Hippocrates, and was elaborated by Galen, shaping Western medicine for many centuries.

In humoralteorin, each humor is associated with particular qualities: blood is hot and moist; phlegm is cold and moist; yellow bile is hot and dry; black bile is cold and dry. Health is viewed as the proper balance of these humors, while disease arises from excess, deficiency, or misaligned qualities of one or more humors. The system is linked to the idea of four temperaments—sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholic—which were believed to reflect an individual's predominant humor balance.

Clinical practice under this theory aimed to restore balance through various means, including diet, exercise, rest, and therapies such as purging, vomiting, bloodletting, and cupping. Diagnosis often involved assessing symptoms, temperament, and environmental or lifestyle factors. Humoralteorin guided medical education, diagnosis, and patient care from classical antiquity through the Middle Ages and into the early modern period.

With advances in anatomy, physiology, and especially germ theory in the 17th through 19th centuries, the humoral framework declined as a comprehensive medical theory. It persisted in certain cultural contexts and influenced traditional approaches to care. Today its historical importance lies in shaping early conceptions of disease, diagnosis, and therapeutic practice.