10,000 BC. In prehistoric times there was, as far as historians can tell, no division between medicine, magic and religion. In the Stone Age there is evidence of trepanning the skull, and also that parts of the cut skull were used as amulets.  Study of cave drawings indicates that Mesolithic people utilized a magical law relating to all human activities of the time, by which they made sense of the world. A cave painting in Ariege, France, shows a strange being with human feet and hands and antlers who has been identified as a 'psychiatrist (witch doctor)', but it is not clear how this identification has been made (Darton, 1999).

460-379 BC. Hippocrates believed the brain was involved in sensation and was as well the centre of intelligence, argued that psychological disorders originated from natural reasons as other diseases, rather than reflections of the displeasure of the gods or evidence of demonic possession, and defined such clinical pictures as mania and melancholia. He further pointed out the relationship between the human brain and epilepsias and mentioned dementia Greek medical writers set out treatments for mentally ill people that include quiet, occupation, and the use of drugs such as the purgative hellebore (Carr, 2006).

23-79 AD. Pliny the Elder, the great Roman naturalist composes in 37 volumes a Natural History, devoting many of the volumes to the medicinal properties of plants and herbs, animals and the human body's own products, as well as the uses of charms in healing the afflictions of mind and body (Carr, 2006).

541-542 AD. The plague of Justinian was a pandemic that afflicted the Byzantine Empire. The most commonly accepted cause of the pandemic is bubonic plague, which later became infamous for either causing or contributing to the Black Death of the 14th century (Plague of Justinian, 2008).

900 AD. Leechdom, Wortcunning and Star Craft of Early England, a collection of herbal prescriptions, gives remedies for melancholia, hallucinations, mental vacancy, dementia, and folly (Carr, 2006).

1100 AD. First record of an asylum founded in Europe exclusively for sufferes from mental disorders at Mets (Carr, 2006).

1348. Coming out of the East, the Black Death (Bubonic Plague or Black Plague) reached the shores of Italy in the spring of 1348 unleashing a rampage of death across Europe unprecedented in history (The Black Death, 2001).

1796. The smallpox vaccine was the first successful vaccine to be developed. The process of the vaccination was discovered by Edward Jenner (Immunization Timeline, 2008).

1805. Rush’s Medical Inquiries and Observations is the first modern attempt to explain mental disorders (Roberts, 1981).

1860. Belgian psychiatrist Benedict Morel described the case of a 13-year-old boy, formerly an excellent pupil, who lost interest in school, became withdrawn, seclusive, quiet, and seemed to forget everything he had learned. He spoke often of killing his father. Morel called this mental deterioriation demence precoce, generally associated with old age. German psychiatric Emil Kraepelin adopted the term dementia praecox to refer to conditions in which mental deterioration began early in life (Carr, 2006).

1910. Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler introduced the term "schizophrenia" (literally split mind) to describe a condition characterized by disorganization of thought processes, incoherence of thought and emotion, and a turning inward, splitting off from reality. The split also refers to the split between the intellect and emotion, but not between personalities, as is commonly, and incorrectly, believed (Carr, 2006).

1911. Dr. Eugen Bleuler first introduced the term autismus (translated in English: autism) when he applied it to adult schizophrenia (Eugene Bleuler, 2009).

1963. The first measles vaccine licensed. Prior to licensure of the first measles vaccine in 1963, virtually every person in the U.S. got the measles by age 20. Since the vaccine became available, there has been a 99% reduction in the incidence of measles (National Network for Immunization Information, 2009).

1967. Mumps vaccine licensed (Immunization Timeline, 2008).

1969. Rubella vaccine licensed. Over 50,000 rubella cases had been reported in 1969 prior to the release of the vaccination (Immunization Timeline, 2008).

1980. Smallpox declared eradicated from the world (Immunization Timeline, 2008).

1986. The MMR immunization has been widely introduced throughout the early 1980s as a combination of three vaccines into one two dose injection (Fisher, 2006).

1986. The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act establishes a no-fault compensation system for those injured in vaccines and requires adverse health events following specific vaccinations be reported and those injured by vaccines be compensated (Immunization Timeline, 2008).

1990. The Vaccine Adverse Reporting System (VAERS), a national program monitoring the safety of vaccines established (Immunization Timeline, 2008).

2000. Worldwide measles initiative launched; 800,000 children still die from measles annually. Measles declared no longer endemic in the United States (Immunization Timeline, 2008).

2008. Outbreaks of measles increasing across the U.S. as vaccination rates drop among some communities over vaccine safety concerns (Iannelli, 2008).

2008. Primetime television drama Eli Stone airs an episode that lashes out at a pharmaceutical company that produces the MMR childhood vaccines. The episode blames an additive used by the company for triggering autism in a young boy, and the legal judgment is a loss for the pharmaceutical company. The theory has never been scientifically proven and had led to decreased vaccination rates in the U.S. (Eli Stone, 2008).

2008. Celebrity Jennifer McCarthy published Mother Warriors: A Nation of Parents Healing Autism Against All Odds. To promote her book and her beliefs about autism being triggered by childhood vaccines, she hits the daytime and nighttime talk show circuit, including shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show. A second appearance on Oprah included her current boyfriend celebrity, Jim Carrey. The success of her book and talk show appearances fuels the fear and confusion of childhood vaccines.

2009. On February 12th, it was ruled by a court that there is no scientific evidence that supports vaccines such as the measles vaccine having a direct link to causing autism. More than 5,500 claims have been filed by families seeking compensation through the government’s Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (Court Cites Science, 2009).