Transcript of Mental Health Reform Nicole Christos & Emily Andersen.
- Slide 1
- Mental Health Reform Nicole Christos & Emily Andersen
- Slide 2
- PROBLEMS in prison? The injustices of having men, women, and
children kept in the same prison without acknowledging how severe
their criminal offences were. Clinically insane prisoners were
poorly mistreated and often did not get the treatment they
deserved.
- Slide 3
- Appalling Conditions Men, women and children were all placed in
the same jails, no matter the type of crime committed. There was no
thought of how to pair inmates with mentally insane. This often
resulted in incidents of murder or injury caused by an insane
inmate. People did not have much sympathy for those deemed crazy.
They were often mistreated in regular prisons, abused and
neglected. They were forced to be held in cages, closets, stalls or
pens. They were chained, sometimes naked, and beaten into obedience
with rods. Dietary needs were not met, food was poorly made.
- Slide 4
- Leaders in the Reform Dorothea Dix- Main reformer in the
movement, she was small and timid, yet her determination and
dedication brought her audiences attention to the awful treatment
of the insane. Dr. John Galt- He worked at a mental institute
starting at 22 years old, the first to encourage
de-institutionalisation. He rarely used restraints on his patients,
instead using calming medication and therapeutic activities.
Introduced moral management therapy to his patients. Elizabeth
Cochrane-Was a journalist by the pen name Nellie Bly. She went
undercover to an asylum, pretending to be clinically insane, and
going through hardships to expose the truth about how poorly
mentally ill patients were treated. Samuel Gridley Howe-Founded
Perkins Institute for the blind. Thought the blind should no longer
be seen as doomed to inequality. Also founded a school for the
mentally retarded in 1848, and deaf children in 1867.
- Slide 5
- Dorothea Dixs outrage "I have come to present to you the strong
claims of suffering humanity, 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!" In Halifax County, a maniac was confined in the
jail, shut up in the dungeon, and chained there. The jail was set
on fire by the other prisoners: the keeper, as he told me, heard
frantic shrieks and cries of the madman, and might have saved him
as well as not, but his noise was a common thing, he was used to
it, and thought nothing out of the way was the case. The alarm of
the fire was finally spread; the jailer hastened to the prison: it
was now too late; every effort (and no exertions were spared), to
save the agonized creature, was unavailing. He perished in agony,
and amidst tortures no pen can describe. -Dorothea Dix
- Slide 6
- dorothea dixs goals Dorothea dix wanted the mentally ill to be
treated and taken care of, instead of being thought of and treated
like murderers and hardened criminals. She wanted the mentally ill
to be in a separate insane asylums than the criminals, where they
couldnt harm others or be harmed. dixs report of how the mentally
ill were treated and their conditions had the lawmakers voting to
create public asylums for the mentally ill.
- Slide 7
- Setbacks and consequences Dorothea Dix petitioned in 1843 to
the Massachusetts Legislature with horrific tales of how the insane
were neglected. Her audience was left in shock and the result of
their debating gave way to many establishments of hospitals
dedicated to help the ill across the US and to Europe. When she
petitioned to Congress in 1854 for a land grant that would fund
asylums for the indigent insane. She was rejected three times and
almost got it on the fourth try, but it was vetoed by President
Franklin Pierce. Dr. John Galt was the first to encourage
deinstitutionalization. He wrote A large number of insane, instead
of rusting out their lives in the confines of some vast asylum,
should be placed...in the neighboring community. Nobody agreed to
what he had to say, and the Hospitals Court of Directors prevented
him to accomplish his plans to deinstitutionalization his patients
three times. Because these early attempts at reform were shot down,
it took a lot longer for people to realize how poorly mentally ill
people were treated, and kept them in harms way for much longer.
Elizabeth Cochrane, AKA Nellie Bly, went undercover for ten days to
an insane asylum as a patient, and revealed all of their horrible
treatments. When she wrote about it later in Behind Asylum Bars and
Inside The Mad-House, which created an uproar in New York.
Investigations were initiated and funds were provided to change the
care of mentally ill patients.
- Slide 8
- Solutions proposed President Fillmore supported Dorothea dix
and he granted the expansion of hospital that would benefit the
navy and the army veterans. Earlier in 1841 dix took an attempted
to reform. she took her finding and presented it the legislature.
Many didnt believe in what she said, so dix persuaded a group of
people who was willing to help her make her stand. Solution to the
movement was to separate the mentally ill from the prison and put
them in a different facility.
- Slide 9
- implications Social and Religious implications- Most people
believe that the mentally ill were possessed by the Devil. The
earliest attempts at mental health reform were inspired by the
American ideal of a shining city on a hill. Americans were setting
an example to the rest of the world by being accepting of all
religions, and now paying attention to people of all disabilities
and not discriminating others for what they cant control.
- Slide 10
- Related Events Salem Witch Trials- In 1692, more than 200
people were accused of witchcraft. Many of the Christians believed
in the Devils magic. They thought it could harm others for return
loyalty. This relates with the mental health reform because
mentally ill people were thought to be possessed by witchcraft and
the devil.
- Slide 11
- Accomplishments Dorothea dix and others changed the way the
people thought of the mentally ill and back then, it was a very
serious problem. There were 123 mental hospitals by 1880 in the
U.S.
- Slide 12
- An Ongoing Reform After all the funds for psychiatric wards and
better care for mentally ill patients, it didnt stop. New mental
health acts keep coming up, with new concerns. The National Mental
Health Act of 1946 was meant to provide grants and fellowships for
training mental health professionals, and fund research relating to
the topic of the causes, diagnosis, and treatment of
neuropsychiatric disorders. Adding on to that was the Mental Health
Study Act of 1955 called for a nationwide analysis and reevaluation
of the human and economic problems of mental health, and authorized
the Public Health Service to provide grants for the study. America
goes on to create the Mental Health Centers Construction Act of
1963, and in 1971, Mental Health America produced a film, Only
Human, which aired on more than 150 television stations, to improve
public understanding of the mental illness and public acceptance of
people with disorders. More recently, Mental Health America
succeeded in getting the Mental Health Parity Act signed into law
in 2008.
- Slide 13
- Chronology 1841- dorothea dix visited the cambridge jail 1843-
dix gave the Massachusetts state legislature a detailed report of
the conditions of the mentally ill (later wins the court). 1848-
dix proposes a bill asking that 5 million acres be used to build
mental institutions. 1854- THe bill passed by both the senate and
the House but was vetoed by president Pierce.
- Slide 14
- Historians perspective LaDonna Ghareeb- Dorothea dix instigated
extensive legislative change. She changed institutional practices
across the U.S. She affected the training of institutions and the
construction of hospitals. Jenn Bump- the mental health reform
started a new chapter in the treatment of those living with mental
illness. dix established a mental hospital relocating the ill. the
movement changed the institutions of hospitals.
- Slide 15
- Personal Reflection The topic of help for the mentally impaired
and asylum reform is very important to me. I have known friends who
have gone to mental asylums and psychiatric help, and without the
mental health reform happening, they wouldnt have the same rights
as the common citizen. I would be abhorred to find out that anyone
should be treated like those prisoners were in the 19th century. I
found the conditions the mentally ill patients were kept in to be
horrid, that they were chained to walls and beaten into fearful
obedience when it is so easy nowadays to treat patients with
medication and therapy. So many people were lost because of how
they were neglected, the horrible things that happened to them is
no better than slavery, in my opinion. At least slaves could try
and protest and fight back, these mentally ill patients were not in
the right mind to do anything about their poor treatment. -Emily
The topic on how the mentally ill were put in mental asylums doesnt
mean anything personal to me, however, I am very interested in the
topic. The condition the mentally ill were put in during the 19th
century was really horrible. I was appalled with the way they were
chained to wall, beaten when they misbehaved and how they were put
in pens, closets, cages, and stalls. It is very inhuman and cruel.
-Nicole