Asylums were thought of as a best place for the mentally ill in the 1900s, but over the years stories of abuses lead people to use drugs and outpatient care instead of sending the insane to asylums. In 1955, nearly 560,000 patients were put in mental hospitals, however, there are now only 35,000 in the twentieth century. There has been a ninety percent decrease in mental health facilities (Campbell 1). In the past, there were no asylums or institutions for the insane to be sent, so they were thrown in jail and were treated as criminals. Dorothea Dix could not stand the unfair treatment and took upon herself to spread mental hospitals around the world. Throughout Dorothea Lynde Dix’s life, she was sedulous to helping people; she built an academy …show more content…
and public schools, volunteered to teach at a prison, traveled and visited mental hospitals in America and Europe, worked as a nurse during the Civil War, and the entire world was influenced by her belief that the insane should be treated with moral treatment. As a child, she did not had a happy family like other children.
Her mother was sick and suffered a bit of mental illness, while her father was an abusive alcoholic. She was twelve years old when she moved to Boston to live with her wealthy grandmother in 1814. Dix started to take an interest in education because of her grandmother. In the early 1800s, Dix built an academy in her grandmother's mansion for affluent young girls and a free school for the poor (Dorothea Lynde Dix 1). Some time later, she established public schools in Boston and Worcester; creating her own educational program and administer classrooms as a teenager and young woman (History.com Staff 2). At the age of fourteen, Dix decided to open a small school in Worcester for young children. Where she taught them basic reading and writing skills in the range of three to four year old children (Breaking the Chains 239). She was very strict in her discipline, but her tactics were appropriate, necessary, and wise (Breaking the Chains 255). Because of her establishing public schools around Boston and Worcester, the destitute children could have an education. Several years later, a student from Harvard Divinity School had asked if Dix would take a job to teach the inmates at East Cambridge prison (Breaking the Chains
499). In 1841, Dix volunteered to teach Sunday school to female convicts at the East Cambridge prison (Dorothea Lynde Dix 1). When Dix arrived she asked if she could have a tour of the place. She was horrified to find out that two mentally ill women were confined in cages made out of “rough boards,” and when there was no heat she asked the jailer why. He said, “Because the lunatics don’t feel the cold” (Breaking the Chains 505). Prisons were usually unchecked and filthy, with the violent criminals living side by side with the insane (History.com Staff 2). After witnessing the abuses from the jailers to the mentally ill, In Massachusett, Dix visited and documented other facilities about the treatment of the insane (Parry 2). It was 1843 when Dix presented her memorial to the state legislature of Massachusetts, which says, “I proceed, gentlemen, briefly to call your attention to the present state of insane persons confined within the Commonwealth, in cages, closets, cellars, pens; chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience” (Dorothea Lynde Dix 2). The public was shocked by the revelation and it urged a movement to improve the conditions for the imprisoners and the insane. Dix demanded the officials or the higher up take notice and take action to reforming. The presentation also won the supporters of Charles Sumner and other public figures and the reform bill were passed by the Congress (Dorothea Lynde Dix 1). “As a result of Dix’s efforts, funds were set aside for the expansion of the state mental hospital in Worcester. Dix went on to accomplish similar goals in Rhode Island and New York, eventually crossing the country and expanding her work into Europe and beyond” (History.com Staff 3). After that, similar accomplishments happened in Rhode Island, New York, and other northern states where she visited facilities and renovated them. Late 1800s were the years that started Dix’s European crusade. It was 1848, when Dix went to Congress in an attempt to win 12,500,000 acres of land, which would provide tax fund for institutions. Both the Senate and the House of the Representative both agreed to the bill, only to be vetoed by President Franklin Pierce (Dorothea Lynde Dix 2). Discouraged, she traveled through Scotland, Ireland, and England inspecting their mental hospitals and improving them. When Dix arrived in Rome, she requested to have an audience with Pius XI (Dorothea Lynde Dix 3). Pius XI was impressed by Dix’s claim and he personally supported her reports. In the outcome, Pius XI started manufacturing new hospitals and revised rules for taking care of patients (Dorothea Lynde Dix 2). Before returning to America, Dix traveled throughout Europe and inspected all their hospitals and suggested the ones that needed to reform. Over the few years, many hospitals and institutions were made or renovated. The treatments for the patients were improved. In the coming years, Dix volunteered to help as a nurse in 1861 when the Civil War started. Dorothea Dix volunteered to work as a nurse through 1861 to 1865 when Abraham Lincoln requested for 75,000 volunteers.The reason was when the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 (Breaking the Chains 1304). When Dix arrived to Washington, she was at first assigned to to organize and outfitted the Union Army hospitals (History.com Staff 3). Several weeks later, Dix was assigned to be the Superintendent of the Female Nurses of the Army, the first women with a high authority in American history (Breaking the Chains 1324). Her methods and ideas of immaculateness, proper diet, and good ventilation, which she had implemented in mental institutions, were not accepted by the army officials and nurses. In often time, Dix would criticize harshly to surgeons who drank on duty and nurses who were not ready for duty at anytime. A friend of Dix once said, “Miss Dix, who is the terror of all mere formalists, idlers, and evil-doers, goes there (a Washington hospital), as she goes everywhere, to prevent and remedy abuses and shortcomings.” It did not take long before others complained to the Surgeon General about Dix’s “prying and poking about,” (Breaking the Chains 1348). Disregarding of others opinion, Dix was assiduous; setting up hospitals, taking care of hospital supplies, and processed thousands of applications from women who wanted to be nurses (Breaking the Chains 1348). For days, she assembled nurses, allocated supplies, and inspected hospitals (Breaking the Chains 1353). Because of her influence to the military hospitals and to training the nurses, the hospital conditions and the nurses care for the patients has improved greatly. After the war finally ended, Dix resigned from being the Superintendent of the Female Nurses of the Army. Dorothea Dix had achieved so much in her life, but there were many obstacles that were in her way. When Dix was a superintendent for the female nurses during the Civil War, most doctors and officers abhor her especially the males because of her criticisms on how they ran the hospitals and of her repeatedly standing up for her nurses and patients (Breaking the Chains 1391). On October 1863, Dix’s authority was subvert by Order 351 where it allowed the surgeon general to appoint nurses. This caused Dix’s approval no longer required and she was dejected. She was also hurt and humiliated when one of her most loyal admirers gave in to pressure from the disgruntled medical officers. Dix was thinking of resigning, but decided not to when there were so much work to be done (Breaking the Chains 1402). Another one of Dix’s difficulties was when President Franklin Pierce denied the bill for Dix to gain 12,500,000 acres of land. Dejected, she decided to travel to different countries and inspect their hospitals and trying to improve them. Without her determination, some of her influences to this day would not happen. Throughout Dorothea Lynde Dix’s life, she had faced some adversity, but because of her determination she was able to overcome those difficulties; she was able to built an academy and public schools, volunteered to teach at a prison, traveled and visited mental hospitals in America and Europe, worked as a nurse during the Civil War, and the entire world was influenced by her belief that the insane should be treated with moral treatment.
During the 1960’s, America’s solution to the growing population of mentally ill citizens was to relocate these individuals into mental state institutions. While the thought of isolating mentally ill patients from the rest of society in order to focus on their treatment and rehabilitation sounded like a smart idea, the outcome only left patients more traumatized. These mental hospitals and state institutions were largely filled with corrupt, unknowledgeable, and abusive staff members in an unregulated environment. The story of Lucy Winer, a woman who personally endured these horrors during her time at Long Island’s Kings Park State Hospital, explores the terrific legacy of the mental state hospital system. Ultimately, Lucy’s documentary, Kings
Dix’s life work has had a lasting effect on the care and treatment of the mentally ill. Her goals were never concretely set in her mind, she simply did what was best for the people and accomplished immeasurable good in her lifetime. Not only did she bring to light the plight of the mentally ill, she helped to open the door for hospitals and asylums to be built across the country and bring about overall change in the care and treatment of the patients. She believed, and was able to show, that the “insane” weren’t a lost cause. With proper care and treatment many were able to recover and lead normal lives. This was something that professionals at the time didn’t think was possible. She awoke the nations conscience to the plight of the mentally ill.
Known as an American philanthropist and reformer, Dorothea Dix transformed living conditions in prisons and established institutions for the mentally insane in 20 states, as well as Canada (“DIX”). Through her crusade for fair treatment of the mentally insane, Dorothea Dix exemplifies the ideals of her time – to protect the rights of all human beings, no matter their age, race, or mental capacity.
The 1930s was a tough time for all of the mentally ill people. They were not treated the way that they do now. The mentally ill were called names like satans child, or they were not expected or very frowned upon in many religions. So because of all of the people who were mentally ill they started to create asylums. With these asylums they could hold almost all of the mentally ill people during that time. All of the asylums were overcrowded and sometimes there would be around 1 million patients. WIth all of the people in these asylums the staff and doctors became very understaffed so the patients living within the asylums were not treated how they should have been. Then doctors had found ways that they thought could cure these mentally ill people, whether it would be cruel to them or not. The treatments ran from major brain surgery to taking baths for multiple days.
The fight for improved health care for those with mental illness has been an ongoing and important struggle for advocates in the United States who are aware of the difficulties faced by the mentally ill and those who take care of them. People unfortunate enough to be inflicted with the burden of having a severe mental illness experience dramatic changes in their behavior and go through psychotic episodes severe enough to the point where they are a burden to not only themselves but also to people in their society. Mental institutions are equipped to provide specialized treatment and rehabilitative services to severely mentally ill patients, with the help of these institutions the mentally ill are able to get the care needed for them to control their illness and be rehabilitated to the point where they can become a functional part of our society. Deinstitutionalization has led to the closing down and reduction of mental institutions, which means the thousands of patients who relied on these mental institutions have now been thrown out into society on their own without any support system to help them treat their mental illness. Years after the beginning of deinstitutionalization and after observing the numerous effects of deinstitutionalization it has become very obvious as to why our nation needs to be re-institutionalized.
In the 1800’s people with mental illnesses were frowned upon and weren't treated like human beings. Mental illnesses were claimed to be “demonic possessions” people with mental illnesses were thrown into jail cells, chained to their beds,used for entertainment and even killed. Some were even slaves, they were starved and forced to work in cold or extremely hot weather with chains on their feet. Until 1851, the first state mental hospital was built and there was only one physician on staff responsible for the medical, moral and physical treatment of each inmate. Who had said "Violent hands shall never be laid on a patient, under any provocation.
“When Dad went crazy, we all had our own ways of shutting down and closing off…” (Walls 115).In Jeannette Walls memoir, The Glass Castle, Walls enlightens the reader on what it’s like to grow up with a parent who is dependent on alcohol, Rex Walls, Jeannette’s father, was an alcoholic. Psychologically, having a parent who abuses alcohol is the worst thing for a child. The psychological state of these children can get of poorer quality as they grow up. Leaving the child with psychiatric disorders in the future and or being an alcoholic as well.
Envision yourself living in a mental asylum, being covered in filth, forced to work, and tortured by guards fill your schedule. You constantly despise every minute of every day, but you can’t leave. This is what a mental asylum was like before Nellie Bly stood up for the mentally ill. An upstander is someone who stands up for what they believe in. According to PBS, a world renown educational television channel, Nellie Bly was born Elizabeth Jane Cochran and took on the alias Nellie Bly when she began her journalistic career (Nellie Bly). Her father died when she was just six years old throwing her family into a large amount of debt (Nellie Bly). Thinking it would help her family, she attended the Indiana Normal School when she was 15 (Nellie
Dorothea noticed that the mentally ill were placed in prisons because people didn’t know what else to do with them. Her early family life, which consisted of an abusive alcoholic dad and a mother that was not in good mental health, was very troubling and led to Dorothea’s guardianship of her brothers. Dorothea became a teacher and then centered her life on prison reform and the creation of asylums and homes for the mentally
In the 1950’s, it was common so see people with frightened, uneasy, rejecting, and even arrogant attitudes towards people with mental illnesses. They considered those who were mentally ill as psychotic, violent and frightening. In the today, people are more accepting and understanding when it comes to mental illness, but some people are still ignorant with their responses, just like back then. In the 1950’s mental health treatment was typically provided in large state hospitals and other intuitions. Back then, topics like mental health were kept hush hush; people much rather putting those who were mentally in away in a state facility where someone else could monitor them. Today, people are more understanding.
For many decades the mentally ill or insane have been hated, shunned, and discriminated against by the world. They have been thrown into cruel facilities, said to help cure their mental illnesses, where they were tortured, treated unfairly, and given belittling names such as retards, insane, demons, and psychos. However, reformers such as Dorothea Dix thought differently of these people and sought to help them instead. She saw the inhumanity in these facilities known as insane asylums or mental institutions, and showed the world the evil that wandered inside these asylums. Although movements have been made to improve conditions in insane asylums, and were said to help and treat the mentally ill, these brutally abusive places were full of disease and disorder, and were more like concentration camps similar to those in Europe during WWII than hospitals.
The BBC documentary, Mental: A History of the Madhouse, delves into Britain’s mental asylums and explores not only the life of the patients in these asylums, but also explains some of the treatments used on such patients (from the early 1950s to the late 1990s). The attitudes held against mental illness and those afflicted by it during the time were those of good intentions, although the vast majority of treatments and aid being carried out against the patients were anything but “good”. In 1948, mental health began to be included in the NHS (National Health Service) as an actual medical condition, this helped to bring mental disabilities under the umbrella of equality with all other medical conditions; however, asylums not only housed people
Elizabeth Packard once wrote in her book, The Prisoner's' Hidden Life, “The great evil of our present Insane Asylum System lies in the fact that insanity is there treated as a crime, instead of a misfortune, which is indeed a gross act of injustice.” In the 1800s, asylum’s for women were running rampant in the United States. Though asylum’s were meant to help women with mental disabilities, many times they caused more harm than good. Due to the restriction of women’s rights in the 1800s, placing women in asylums greater suppressed them more, than helped.
Education for women in the 1800s was far different from what we know today. During her life, a girl was taught more necessary skills around the home than the information out of school books. A woman’s formal education was limited because her job opportunities were limited—and vice versa. Society could not conceive of a woman entering a profession such as medicine or the law and therefore did not offer her the chance to do so. It was much more important to be considered 'accomplished' than thoroughly educated. Elizabeth Bennet indicated to her sisters that she would continue to learn through reading, describing education for herself as being unstructured but accessible. If a woman desired to further he education past what her classes would teach her, she would have to do so independently, and that is what most women did.
History shows that signs of mental illness and abnormal behavior have been documented as far back as the early Greeks however, it was not viewed the same as it is today. The mentally ill were previously referred to as mad, insane, lunatics, or maniacs. W.B. Maher and B.A. Maher (1985) note how many of the terms use had roots in old English words that meant emotionally deranged, hurt, unhealthy, or diseased. Although early explanations were not accurate, the characteristics of the mentally ill have remained the same and these characteristics are used to diagnose disorders to date. Cultural norms have always been used to assess and define abnormal behavior. Currently, we have a decent understanding of the correlates and influences of mental illness. Although we do not have complete knowledge, psychopathologists have better resources, technology, and overall research skills than those in ancient times.