Mental Illness In The 19th Century
In the early colonial period up until the 1800’s, many Christians believed that mental illness was a result of sinfulness or demonic possession. This led to people believing that the mentally ill just needed to become closer to God and that idea led to a stigma that still affects today. Many religious people will tell the mentally ill to pray or go to church more often or read the bible, and while these things might be effective for the spiritual strain on the mentally ill, this often discourages the mentally ill from seeking mental help for fear of not being “Christian” enough. The belief of the mental illness being a result of possession has morphed into a predisposition that the mentally ill themselves are fundamentally evil, while the trust is that mental illness is evil separate from the person who has it.
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This leads to very few people seeking therapy or treatment for mental illness.
It also discourages people from seeking help before emotional strain turns into mental illness. Another common notion is that mental illness is fake and is a sign of a weak person who is unwilling to handle the struggles of daily life whereas mental illness is a person with a weakness that inhibits their care of daily struggles. Another view is that mental illness is a small problem that is only heightened in Hollywood’s horror movies about spooky asylums, ignoring the true detrimental qualities of mental illness. This prompts people using mental illnesses as adjectives: “She’s so bipolar,” “Oh my gosh, I’m so organized, I’m OCD,” “My favorite team lost the game. I’m depressed.” Very few people recognize that these statements invalidates the mentally ill around them and inhibits their healing
process.
The mentally ill were often kept in conditions similar to the imprisoned. They were chained to beds, isolated, with their doors locked. If an emergency occurred, like a fire, then one doctor would have to personally unlock every door. The conditions were grimy and unclean and many patients were abused by their doctors and nurses. Today, thanks to reforms by Dorthea Dix in the 1800s, mental institutions are clean and restraints are required to be less restrictive. The cloth restraints, called ‘leathers’ because they were commonly made out of leather, are used only in the case of violent actions that harm the patient or others. Medical officials typically use ‘chemical restraints’ or tranquilizers instead of leathers. The use of tranquilizers tends to become excessive in mental institutions. Very rarely are the mentally ill admitted into hospitals unwillingly, but still the complaints of the mentally ill based on observations of side effects or issues resulting from the illness are often ignored by nurses.
This leads to very few people seeking therapy or treatment for mental illness.
It also discourages people from seeking help before emotional strain turns into mental illness. Another common notion is that mental illness is fake and is a sign of a weak person who is unwilling to handle the struggles of daily life whereas mental illness is a person with a weakness that inhibits their care of daily struggles. Another view is that mental illness is a small problem that is only heightened in Hollywood’s horror movies about spooky asylums, ignoring the true detrimental qualities of mental illness. This prompts people using mental illnesses as adjectives: “She’s so bipolar,” “Oh my gosh, I’m so organized, I’m OCD,” “My favorite team lost the game. I’m depressed.” Very few people recognize that these statements invalidates the mentally ill around them and inhibits their healing
process.
The mentally ill were often kept in conditions similar to the imprisoned. They were chained to beds, isolated, with their doors locked. If an emergency occurred, like a fire, then one doctor would have to personally unlock every door. The conditions were grimy and unclean and many patients were abused by their doctors and nurses. Today, thanks to reforms by Dorthea Dix in the 1800s, mental institutions are clean and restraints are required to be less restrictive. The cloth restraints, called ‘leathers’ because they were commonly made out of leather, are used only in the case of violent actions that harm the patient or others. Medical officials typically use ‘chemical restraints’ or tranquilizers instead of leathers. The use of tranquilizers tends to become excessive in mental institutions. Very rarely are the mentally ill admitted into hospitals unwillingly, but still the complaints of the mentally ill based on observations of side effects or issues resulting from the illness are often ignored by nurses.