Clinical psychology is the psychological specialty that gives continuing and comprehensive mental and behavioral health take care of individuals and families; consultation to agencies and communities; training, education and supervision; and research-based practice. The earliest recorded approaches to assess and treat mental distress were a mixture of non-secular, magical, and/or medical perspectives. Within the early 19th century, one approach to review mental conditions and behavior was using phrenology, the study of personality by examining the form of the skull. Other popular treatments at that point included the study of the form of the face (physiognomy) and Mesmer's treatment for mental conditions using magnets (mesmerism). Spiritualism and Phineas Quimby's "mental healing" were also popular.
