How Did Dorothea Dix Treat The Mentally Ill

Dorothea Dix played a major role in improving the treatment of the mentally ill but also suffered many consequences as a result. Having a teaching background, she first took an interest in treating the mentally ill when she accepted a job teaching inmates in an East Cambridge prison, which was at a time when jails were considered a solution for many issues, including housing the mentally ill with no treatment. While teaching there she realized the actions of the workers towards the criminals were inhumane, unfair, and unbearable. She then began visiting many public and private mental illness facilities and documented all that she observed, finding that the conditions were very unsatisfactory. She decided to fight against the conditions even though she knew she would get punished for it, in the hopes to provide treatment for the mentally ill. As a result of all her actions, more funding and expansion of potential hospital institutions and the treatment of the mentally ill was instituted.

Throughout the mid 1800’s America was overcome with a variety of movements meant to improve conditions and life all throughout the United States, one of which was the improvement of the mentally ill.

During this time period, people who were considered mentally ill and could no longer be taken care of by their families would have became the responsibility of the government. The government would traditionally put these people into jails where they did not receive any treatment and were not cared for. Many reformers who saw the inhumaneness of these actions sought to create state hospitals for the mentally ill where they would both be treated and cared for. By the late 1840s, 11 out of the 13 states had adopted this idea and made changes to care for them in existing hospitals, but North Carolina was one of the two states that had not, claiming it was too cost worthy. However, Dorothea Dix would not accept this and was determined to improve the conditions for these people

everywhere.
Dorothea Dix followed her established pattern of visiting mental institutions and prisons while documenting the things she observed in North Carolina. She then gathered all of her information and stated her case to the General Assembly of North Carolina with her 48 page memorial in the hope of persuading North Carolina to construct a hospital made for the mentally ill. Several bills had already been presented to the General assembly by governors but none had passed at this time. In Dix’s memorial she focussed on pointing out why there needed to be a change, claiming that using county prisons as a place to house the mentally ill was, “subverting the uses for which these prisons are constructed" and "placing the innocent on a level with the guilty making misfortune and crime, disease and health go hand in hand.” She stated that although the prisons were well built and covered their basic needs, poorhouses, where some mentally ill went besides jail, was in even worse conditions and neither were “a fit for the insane.” All throughout Dix’s memorial she made several good points considering the families, appealed to liberal and humane hearts, and even showed statistics that went in her favor. These statistics included the comparison of the costs of treating someone with a mental illness at the first sight of the disease versus someone who has had it for a lengthy period. She also drew up a chart for out-of-state and improvement rates, showing the General Assembly it is possible for the “insane” to improve with the proper care.
Representative John W. Ellis, the leader of important Democrats, presented Dix’s memorial to the Assembly and even managed to get it to the House of Commons. He warned Dix in the first place the committee was made up of half Democrats and half Whigs so it would be hard to convince them to spend a substantial amount of money on one single thing. Although Dix won the support of many important Democrats the bill failed. However, she had become acquainted with Mrs. James Dobbins, who happened to not be in good health, and nursed her through her final days. Mrs. Dobbins’ husband happened to be the leading Democrat in the House of Representatives and because her dying wish was his support of Dix’s bill, Mr. Dobbs made a moving speech to the House asking for reconsideration of passing the bill. Due to his efforts, the legislation casted a reconsideration vote and Dix’s request of a new hospital dedicated to the mentally ill was approved. Within the next seven years, the construction of the hospital progressed unhurriedly with the first patients being admitted in 1856.
Although Dix’s biggest success was in North Carolina, she contributed to the improvement of the treatment to the mentally ill all throughout America. She also impacted Massachusetts, New York, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Arkansas. She traveled all throughout these states, observing their treatment of the mentally ill, and used her observations to come to a conclusion about the best way to treat the mentally unstable. She communicated with many different state governments about improving the conditions for these people and succeeded in many cases. Dorothea Dix created the foundation of how we treat the mentally ill today. Without her efforts dating back to the 1800s, prisons may have still been considered the “home” for the mentally ill.
Dorothea Dix committed her life to other people, ranging from helping kids in need to fighting for others who can not fight for themselves. She was a crusader, teacher, lobbyist, author, nursed many people back to health during the civil war, and fought years for the mentally ill to be treated as if they were humans. Dorothea Dix changed the standards for treatment of the ill forever, and without her efforts, some may never have realized some mentally ill patient are curable with the proper treatment and help.