Mental Health Reform Movement 1800s

By: Sarah Lee

Period 3

The End

Movement Achieved

Unintended Consequences of the Movement

The Mental Health Reform

• though Dix had won and established her first Mental Hospital, there were only limited hospitals at the time of 1800s
• Diagnosed patients overcrowded the already established hospitals
• caused another mistreatment because of overpopulation of the mentally ill (this is where Nellie Bly comes in and investigate)

• Dix established a mental hospital relocating the ill from prison

• The movement given the insane a humane way of life

• Many people around the world now look at the mentally disordered with a different perspective

Overview

The Mental health reform was a movement that gave the insane the proper care they needed without being abused. Dorothea Dix who was once a school teacher was the first to act upon the mentally ill for their justice. She was considered the "voice for the mad".

Effective and Realistic

Problems the movement attempt to address

Solutions the movement proposed

• Goals of the movement was very effective because it was reasonable to take action to care for the ill
• Until 1848, Dix' Goal was too high, asking for 5 million acres to fund the expansion of mental hospitals

• Wide spread abuse of mentally ill were due to lack of understanding, neglect, and support from the communities in 1800.
• The solution to obedience is not abuse.
• Extreme abusive behavior is becoming a huge problem to America and it's not the way to solve our problems.

• Separate mentally ill from prison and place them in a different facility
• Appropriate the money to expand state hospitals
• After mental hospital were placed, Dix proposed again in 1854 to expand the state hospitals for the insane

Dix's first hospital

Related Historical Events

One of the hospital's Dix established

Salem Witch Trials- In 1692, more than 200 people were accused of witchcraft. Many Christians strongly believed in Devil's magic thinking it could harm others for in return loyalty.

Conclusion

Related Movements Today

• Mental Health care- How to recognize early signs of mental disordered to prevent them from getting weapons.
• Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Newtown Connecticut.
• Movie Theater shooting in Colorado

Work Cited

Bumb, Jenn. "Dorothea Dix reformed treatment of the mentally ill." Human Quest. 01 Sep. 2003: 19. eLibrary. Web. 07 Jan. 2013.

Davoli, Joanmarie Ilaria. "No room at the Inn: How the federal Medicaid program created inequities in psychiatric hospital access for the indigent mentally ill." American Journal of Law and Medicine 29.2/3 (2003): n. pag. ProQuest 5000. Web. 8 Jan. 2013. <http://search.proquest.com/docview>.

Learning to Live. Grand Valley State University, n.d. Web. 6 Jan. 2013. <http://learningtogive.org/papers/paper89.html>.

Mass Moments. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Jan. 2013. <http://www.massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=96>.

Religious and Social Implications

The Mental Health Reform effected America dramatically, by changing the way people think about the mentally ill and gave them more respect than ever before. Before people believed they were cursed with uncleaned spirits, but after many years, it was proven that the demented were not possessed but mentally ill. Also without the reform the Civil war would not have trained nurses to those who needed to be cared for.

• Most people thought that mentally ill were possessed by the devil and were incurable

Chronology of the movement

Conditions created need for change

Mentally disordered

were placed into one of these rooms

The insane

were barely fed and cared for

Believed it was to help "cure" the mentally ill patient

Not properly taken care of

1841- Dix visited the Cambridge Jail

1843- Dix brought her concerns to Massachusetts state legislatures (later wins court)

1845- Opened Trentonstate Hospital, her first “New born child”

- Dix brought her reports to New York, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Arkansas

1848- Dix proposed a bill asking for 5 million acres to build mental institutions

1854- Passed by both Senate and House, but was vetoed by President Pierce

1867- Nellie Bly goes on a undercover missions

- President Fillmore supported Dix and Granted the expansion of hospitals that would benefit the Navy and Army veterans

• In 1841, Dorothea Dix, a school teacher at the time, was asked to teach at Cambridge Jail
• Her life changed at that moment when she witnessed...
• Mentally ill were confined with common criminals
• They were placed in unsanitary, unheated, foul smelling rooms
• Men, women and children were beaten and whipped and even stripped naked
• mostly all of them were naked and chained onto walls and women were sexually abused
• diagnosed people were mistreated, isolated and abused

Earlier attempts at reform

• In 1841 Dorothea Dix reported her news to the Massachusetts legislature and their was a heated debate
• During the debate she took her news to the newspaper
• many did not believe in them, so Dix used her skills and persuaded a group of people who were willing to help make Dix's stand
• Her and her group succeeded and the legislature appropriated the funding for the mentally ill and also expanded state hospitals

Lasting Impact

Key Players

• By 1880 there were 123 mental hospitals in the U.S country
• Dix and many others had changed the way people thought of the mentally ill and that it is a serious problem

Dorothea Dix

1. Dorothea Dix

2. Samuel Gridley Howe

3. Nellie Bly- Later in 1865

Samuel Gridley Howe

Perspective of other Historians

Was a friend to Dix and helped her present her findings to the Massachusetts legislature

Nellie Bly

In 1887 she disguised herself as a mentally ill person. Her mission was to investigate the conditions the insane were in.

1. LaDonna Ghareeb:

• Dix instigated extensive legislative change
• she changed institutional practices across U.S
• She also affected the constructions

of hospitals and the training of institutions

2. Jenn Bumb:

• The movement changed the institutions

of hospitals

• Mentally disordered should be

taken with extreme care and should be taken seriously

• The mental health reform started

a new chapter in the treatment of those living

with mental illness

Dorothea Dix's Quote

"I have come to present to you the strong claims of suffering humanity," she wrote. "I come as the advocate of the helpless, forgotten, insane men and women held in cages, closets, cellars, stalls, pens! Chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience!" (Mass movements)

Society's Response

Who Opposed?

Society: the funding was too expensive and facts were unbelievable

Legislatures: they did not fully oppose but they did believe that it was costly and especially when their in bad economic times

• When Dix's report spread around the states, it caused an uproar
• some communities claimed that her facts were false and that she had exaggerated her account
• many say she failed to fully inspect
• One man had said, 'bare-faced falsehood, false impression, and false statement”
• many others objected to Dix's facts because it was costly to build hospitals for insane, especially during hard economic times