Mental Health In The 1800s
Crazy....weird...psycho. Children learn these words at an early age, labeling their
classmates without so much as a second thought. And of course it’s not their fault. Children
don’t know the painful connotation behind their words, a connotation that has been developing
since the 1600s. The stigma against mental health in this country is incredibly apparent and only
beginning to be addressed and given the attention it deserves. In fifty years or so, people will
look back on the way mentally ill people have been treated and be absolutely disgusted.
Hopefully. Hopefully, this reaction will occur even sooner than 50 years. Because people are
conditioned from the beginning of their lives by a prejudiced, fearful society to see mental illness …show more content…
As was mentioned previously,
prejudice against mentally ill people began way before any knowledge of mental health
developed. These people we labeled as witches and demons, and the only response to them that
people had was to kill them, or lock them up in horrible conditions. This continued well into the
1800s, and only by the late 1800s were mentally ill people actually acknowledged. More
extensive research into the mind started to develop through the 18th century, and continues
today. The way we treat and diagnose mental illnesses has improved significantly since these
times, but this medieval mindset has done nothing but develop to fit modern times. “Witch” and
“Demon” have been replaced with “psycho” and “spaz,” and mentally ill people are still denied
jobs, government aid, and healthcare on a daily basis. Why these problems have developed and
why they haven’t been respectfully addressed is another problem. Prejudice and hatred stem
from fear and ignorance, and the stigma towards mental health has deep roots in these things.
However, the fact that no attempts have been made to remedy these problems …show more content…
And this is because of the same
reason people believe that mental illnesses are not real, the same reason people every day are
told to just “get over it:” because even after years of research and books and papers, mental
health is still not seen as important as physical health. In most cases, they do not translate to
physical afflictions, and when people can’t find something clear to fixate on, to blame, they can
pass the problem off to be less serious or even nonexistent. This sort of thought process is
damaging on so many levels--it is damaging to the people trying to repress their mental illness to
be accepted by society, and it is damaging to the people with diagnosed mental illnesses,
struggling to find affordable treatment and acceptance within their relationships and society as a
whole.
The stigma towards mental illnesses is painfully real in America, and it can damage
people’s health to the extreme. To remedy this, people need to understand that mental illness is
not an inherently bad thing, and is simply misunderstood and damaged by years upon years of
prejudice, fear, and hatred. We need to start treating mental health with the respect and
classmates without so much as a second thought. And of course it’s not their fault. Children
don’t know the painful connotation behind their words, a connotation that has been developing
since the 1600s. The stigma against mental health in this country is incredibly apparent and only
beginning to be addressed and given the attention it deserves. In fifty years or so, people will
look back on the way mentally ill people have been treated and be absolutely disgusted.
Hopefully. Hopefully, this reaction will occur even sooner than 50 years. Because people are
conditioned from the beginning of their lives by a prejudiced, fearful society to see mental illness …show more content…
As was mentioned previously,
prejudice against mentally ill people began way before any knowledge of mental health
developed. These people we labeled as witches and demons, and the only response to them that
people had was to kill them, or lock them up in horrible conditions. This continued well into the
1800s, and only by the late 1800s were mentally ill people actually acknowledged. More
extensive research into the mind started to develop through the 18th century, and continues
today. The way we treat and diagnose mental illnesses has improved significantly since these
times, but this medieval mindset has done nothing but develop to fit modern times. “Witch” and
“Demon” have been replaced with “psycho” and “spaz,” and mentally ill people are still denied
jobs, government aid, and healthcare on a daily basis. Why these problems have developed and
why they haven’t been respectfully addressed is another problem. Prejudice and hatred stem
from fear and ignorance, and the stigma towards mental health has deep roots in these things.
However, the fact that no attempts have been made to remedy these problems …show more content…
And this is because of the same
reason people believe that mental illnesses are not real, the same reason people every day are
told to just “get over it:” because even after years of research and books and papers, mental
health is still not seen as important as physical health. In most cases, they do not translate to
physical afflictions, and when people can’t find something clear to fixate on, to blame, they can
pass the problem off to be less serious or even nonexistent. This sort of thought process is
damaging on so many levels--it is damaging to the people trying to repress their mental illness to
be accepted by society, and it is damaging to the people with diagnosed mental illnesses,
struggling to find affordable treatment and acceptance within their relationships and society as a
whole.
The stigma towards mental illnesses is painfully real in America, and it can damage
people’s health to the extreme. To remedy this, people need to understand that mental illness is
not an inherently bad thing, and is simply misunderstood and damaged by years upon years of
prejudice, fear, and hatred. We need to start treating mental health with the respect and