Sharing some links, findings and extracts:

http://theairfarecenter.com/?p=169

Neurosciences and Psychology
In Islamic psychology and neurosciences, Ibn Sina noted the close
relationship between emotions and the physical condition, and felt
that music had a definite physical and psychological effect on
patients.


Clinical psychology and psychotherapy
In clinical psychology and psychotherapy, Avicenna often used
psychological methods to treat his patients. One such case study is
when a prince of Persia had melancholia and suffered from the delusion
that he is a cow, and who would low like a cow crying "Kill me so that
a good stew may be made of my flesh" and would never eat anything.
Avicenna was persuaded to the case and sent a message to the patient,
asking him to be happy as the butcher was coming to slaughter him, and
the sick man rejoiced. When Avicenna approached the prince with a
knife in his hand, he asked "where is the cow so I may kill it." The
patient then lowed like a cow to indicate where he was. "By order of
the butcher, the patient was also laid on the ground for slaughter."
When Avicenna approached the patient pretending to slaughter him, he
said, "the cow is too lean and not ready to be killed. He must be fed
properly and I will kill it when it becomes healthy and fat." The
patient was then offered food which he ate eagerly and gradually
"gained strength, got rid of his delusion, and was completely cured."

Among the many other psychological disorders that he described in the
Qanun, one is of unusual interest: love sickness. Ibn Sina is reputed
to have diagnosed this condition in a Prince in Jurjan who lay sick
and whose malady had baffled local doctors. Ibn Sina noted a
fluttering in the Prince's pulse when the address and name of his
beloved were mentioned. The great doctor had a simple remedy: unite
the sufferer with the beloved.


Neurology and neuropathology
Avicenna's contributions in neurology and neuropathology include his
diagnosis of facial nerve paralysis, his distinction between brain
paralysis and hyperaemia, and most importantly his discovery of
meningitis. He diagnosed meningitis as a disease induced by the brain
itself and differentiated it from infectious brain disease, and was
also able to diagnose and describe the type of meningitis induced by
an infection in other parts of the body.


Neuropsychiatry and neuropsychology
Ibn Sina was a pioneer of neuropsychiatry and neuropsychology. He
first described numerous neuropsychiatric conditions, including
hallucination, insomnia, mania, nightmare, melancholia, dementia,
epilepsy, paralysis, stroke, vertigo and tremor. Avicenna dedicated
three chapters of The Canon of Medicine to neuropsychiatry.

He defined madness (Junun) as a mental condition in which reality is
replaced by fantasy, and discovered that it is a disorder of reason
with its origin in the middle part of the brain. He also discovered a
condition resembling schizophrenia which he described as Junun Mufrit
(severe madness), which he clearly distinguished from other forms of
madness such as mania, rabies, and manic depressive psychosis. He
observed that patients suffering from schizophrenia-like severe
madness show agitation, behavioural and sleep disturbance, give
inappropriate answers to questions, and in some cases are incapable of
speaking at times. He wrote that such patients need to be restrained,
in order to avoid any harm they may cause to themselves or to others.

Avicenna also dedicated a chapter of the Canon to mania and rabies,
where he described mania as bestial madness characterized by rapid
onset and remission, with agitation and irritability, and described
rabies as a type of mania.


Psychoanalysis
In The Canon of Medicine, Avicenna extended the theory of temperaments
to encompass "emotional aspects, mental capacity, moral attitudes,
self-awareness, movements and dreams." Avicenna's work is thus
considered a "forerunner of twentieth century psychoanalysis."


Psychophysiology and psychosomatic medicine
Ibn Sina was a pioneer in psychophysiology and psychosomatic medicine,
and the first to recognize 'physiological psychology' in the treatment
of illnesses involving emotions, and developed a system for
associating changes in the pulse rate with inner feelings, which is
seen as an anticipation of the word association test attributed to
Carl Jung. Avicenna identified love sickness (Ishq) when he was
treating a very ill patient by "feeling the patient's pulse and
reciting aloud to him the names of provinces, districts, towns,
streets, and people." He noticed how the patient's pulse increased
when certain names were mentioned, from which Avicenna deduced that
the patient was in love with a girl whose home Avicenna was "able to
locate by the digital examination." Avicenna advised the patient to
marry the girl he is in love with, and the patient soon recovered from
his illness after his marriage.

Avicenna also gave psychological explanations for certain somatic
illnesses, and he always linked the physical and psychological
illnesses together. He described melancholia (depression) as a type of
mood disorder in which the person may become suspicious and develop
certain types of phobias. He stated that anger heralded the transition
of melancholia to mania, and explained that humidity inside the head
can contribute to mood disorders. He recognized that this occurs when
the amount of breath changes: happiness increases the breath, which
leads to increased moisture inside the brain, but if this moisture
goes beyond its limits, the brain would lose control over its
rationality and lead to mental disorders. He also wrote about symptoms
and treatments for nightmare, epilepsy, and weak memory.