This photograph was created in the 1930’s during one of the saddest parts of United States History, the Great Depression.…
Reforms in prisons and insane asylums began to take flight in America as Dorothea Dix, an American reformer, began advocating for safe places for the mentally unstable to reside. Her pursuit of such an institution began in 1941. Dix helped to form five phychiatric hospitals in America. Phychiatric hospitals were given a bad reputation when some hospitals were not treating the patients, rather their main concern was giving the mentally unstable a place to stay where they would not be a disturbance to the rest of society. Also during this time, prisons were holding anyone who had commited massive crimes to those who were unworthy of arrest. Men, women, and children were all detained the same prisons despite the severity of their crimes. Because…
Around 1960 and 1970 the attitudes concerning the mentally ill were changing in the community and the mental health field. Both of these communities were beginning to realize that the mentally ill could live by themselves within the community. Before this realization, many of these mentally ill people were living in an institution of some kind locked away, and medicated, to keep them apart from normal society. Now they were interacting with the general public as well as law enforcement. Often times when they met due to an issue it had an unfortunate outcome.(Rusell)…
Dorothea Dix once said, "in a world where there is so much to be done, I felt strongly impressed that there must be something for me to do." In the 19th century, when Dorothea Dix was born and lived during, many changes were occurring in the United States. The War of 1812, then the Mexican-American War, and the Civil War all occurred during Dorothea Dix's lifetime, which likely had a large impact on her outlook on the United States and her visions for her own future. Dorothea Dix was a powerful, passionate woman, who change the world through her work in insane asylums and through her work as the head of nurses in the Civil War.…
In this article, the incarceration of the mentally ill is encouraged because it is safer than keeping them in mental institutions. It claims that mental institutions are extremely dangerous by their very nature and the nurses there are trained to treat the mentally ill, not to keep them from hurting themselves or other people. In prisons however, the guards are equipped with the experience of a 16 week training program and are able to handle any commotion that might be made without endangering the lives of the prisoners or the public. This viewpoint is contrary to that in Pete Earley’s book because it endorses the imprisonment of the mentally ill, while in contrast Earley strongly believes the mentally ill need treatment, not imprisonment.…
entered the nursing field as a matron at New England Hospital in 1874. She left in 1876 and spent two years in England before enrolling at Boston City Hospital Training School for Nurses. In 1880 she was hired to start a training school at Montreal General Hospital. In 1881, she was offered the superintendence of the Training School for Nurses at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. In 1889, she moved to New York as the director of nursing at St. Luke's Hospital, and from there became superintendent of nursing at the Presbyterian Hospital of New York from 1892-1921. Maxwell was also the first director of the Presbyterian Hospital's nursing school, founded in 1892, which later became the Columbia University School of Nursing. She did commendable job in nursing throughout her life to bring many laurels in healing…
There were very many influential people in the 1930s. One that stuck out the most was Dorothea Lange. She was a professional photographer, a very known professional photographer, during the Great Depression and even after that. She documented the struggle of migrant farm families. Lange photographed the pain and despair of women, men, and children living in dirty, miserable camps. She also photographed the unemployed men who wandered the streets of San Francisco (Migrants). Lange was an influential American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the FSA or the Farm Security Administration. Lange's photographs humanized the consequences of the Great Depression and influenced the development…
Every day is the same to you; you wake up, read the paper, and drink your coffee. You work at the East Cambridge Prison, where you keep the inmates in order by whipping them, chaining them up, and by not giving them food. You know that the conditions are wrong and inhumane, but it’s a well-paying job. You don’t speak out because you’re worried about your family and three kids at home who need to be fed. Stories like these occurred in prisons and mental institutions all around the world. The article, “Dorothea Lynde Dix,” describes the awful conditions Dorothea Dix witnessed in prisons and mental institutions: “... flogged, starved, chained, physically and sexually abused by their keepers, and left…
To say that Dorothea Lange led a full life is an understatement. She led and extraordinary life and it is a fascinating tale. As you will see, she was an amazing person, charming and likeable, but also a person with just as many hardships as the subjects of her work.…
From 1824, Dorothea Dix has proved to be valuable to social reform in the United States. After visiting multiple prisons and seeing the mentally insane housed together with criminals, Dix began a national movement to treat the insane in more benevolent ways. Her religious beliefs also influenced her to recognize the need for rehabilitation instead of punishment. Although she was not completely successful in receiving a federal grant for lands to be used to build asylums in the US, Dix overcame adversity and was successful in convincing certain state legislatures such as Massachusetts to care for the mentally ill. Dorothea Dix advocated the institution of asylums in the US, and should be accepted into the University of the United States because of her successes in providing humane treatment for the insane.…
Instead of this approach, he began a therapy that included close and friendly contact with the patients, talking about their personal difficulties, along with a program of meaningful activities. Pinel’s moral, psychiatric therapy was the first attempt at giving mentally ill patients individual psychotherapy. He was said to be gentle, understanding, and overall he had a good will when it came to his therapeutic practices. He was not in favor of violence, but would use force feeding or a straitjacket if need be. The patients were now in a practice where physical exercise, personal hygiene and a helpful program for each individual was valued. Pineal was dedicated to making sure that the infirmary personal were given proper training and the proper administration of the institution for the mentally ill.…
as a single treatment approach while others chose to blend things from two or more…
In the mid-1900s, the discovery of psychological and drug methods had a rapid succession as a form of treatment and created a decline of patients in asylums. Psychiatrists of this era worked in the asylums practicing “moral treatment” or “moral management”, a humane approach at quieting mental turmoil, this then replaced the often-cruel treatment that then prevailed. This treatment was also based on the belief that the environment was a vital role. Replacing shackles, chains and cement…
For many examples and many errors were made along the way, studies eventually showed that the mentally ill could still be independent while participating in a group therapy or half way housing. One example is the reaction the court systems started to see since the 1960’s. “The identifications of these new legal issues had significant consequences for psychiatrists and the mentally ill“ (Grob, 1995). In other words, the concern was with patient rights. “The courts defined the right to treatment in a least- restrictive environment, shortened the duration of commitment and placed restraints on the application process” (Grob, 1995).…
Dr. Rogers believed that in order for psychotherapy to be successful, it was important and necessary for a therapist to provide, what Rogers called, unconditional positive regard to the patient. What Dr. Rogers was saying is that a therapist needs to accept the client and their condition as they are and allows the patient to openly express himself or herself, whether it be in a negative or a positive manner. According to Rogers, the therapist also needs to offer their patient with moral support and without any kind of judgement…