Mental Illness In The 20th Century

Mental health began to take hold in the 1980s it was influenced by the development of patients councils in both the united states and holland.

There was still a large lack of understanding that what caused mental illness the 1930’s, however people still wanted to treat mental illness so this brought more therapeutic ideas on how to cure it. In 1933, two neurologists at Yale Primate Laboratory, Dr. Fulton and Jacobson, performed experiments on two monkeys. They tested the intelligence of the monkeys before and after the removal of half the brains’ frontal lobes. They seemed to retain their skills and intelligence. Fulton and Jacobson wanted to take this a little further, they removed the other half of the frontal lobe. They discovered that the monkeys no longer became violent and frustrated when they didn't immediately get their treats after completing the intelligence test [9].

In early American history, individuals with mental illnesses have been neglected and suffered inhuman treatments. Some were beaten, lobotomized, sterilized, restrained, in addition to other kinds of abuse. Mental illness was thought to be the cause of supernatural dreadful curse from the Gods or a demonic possession. Trepanning (the opening of the skull) is the earliest known treatment for individuals with mental illness. This practice was believed to release evil spirits (Kemp, 2007). Laws were passed giving power to take custody over the mentally ill including selling their possessions and properties and be imprisoned (Kofman, 2012). The first psychiatric hospital in the U.S. was the Pennsylvania Hospital where mentally ill patients were left in cold basements because they were considered not affected by cold or hot environments and restraint with iron shackles. They were put on display like zoo animals to the public for sell by the doctors (Kofmen, 2012). These individuals were punished and isolated and kept far out of the eyes of society, hidden as if they did not exist. They were either maintained by living with their families and considered a source of embarrassment or institutionalized

They are challenged by the stereotypes and prejudice that keep them from seeking treatment and do not have a support system in place to help them. People with mental illness are robbed of many opportunities in life because it t defines their quality of life like good jobs, safe housing, satisfactory health care, and affiliation with a diverse group of people in our society. AA has a support group for their families called

brain, or sending patients to institutions, doctor prescribed pills to try and treat mental conditions. In addition mental health patients were no longer being institutionalized due to the poor conditions in mental institutions (History of Mental Illness”)

Mental health services in St. Louis have undergone a multitude of changes as stigmas towards mental health issues have begun to change. Traditionally, mentally ill individuals were thought to be lacking religion or in trouble in the eyes of God, and this thought process was believed until after the Middle Ages. These beliefs may have changed, but the attitudes towards the mentally ill were continued into the 18th century and beyond, which caused an increase in the stigmatization of mental illness, and thus subjected these individuals to humiliating and unhealthy conditions found in the original confinement of mentally ill patients, asylums. The government created mental health asylums, which separated these individuals from their societies,

By the 1800s, physicians were able to establish that mental illness was connected to a biological disorder and that it could be triggered by different stressors in the individual’s life. They were also able to determine that there was more than one type of mental illness. After this discovery, people started shifting from mental asylums to mental hospitals that would allow the patients to receive specialized treatment that would positively benefit them in accordance to the specific mental afflictions they suffered from. Then, a psychiatrist was assigned to the patient so they could try to identify the stressors in their patient’s life and establish resolutions to eliminate the stressors.

Mental illness has been around since the 1700s. The history of mental illness and its treatment of patients diagnosed with mental illnesses consisted of cruel and harsh punishments. Through research and advocates mentally illness is now high on the radar of mental health professionals, the government and family members; in addition, mental illness is no longer considered to be a “wicked” diagnosis and it is recognized as a treatable condition. POINT OF DEPARTURE Evil spirits and witchcraft were thought to be behind mental illness from the Middle Ages through the seventeenth century.

In the 1930’s, there was a dispute surrounding mental illness. People could go unheard and learn to live with it, but if they got diagnosed officially, they had a chance of society rejecting them. Mental illness became a stigma in the 1930s due to the fact that treatment was either a form of “torture” or there was limited resources and treatment to help those who suffered from a mental illness.

In America, one in five adults has a mental health condition, a staggering statistic. Appreciatively, recovery is the goal in the mental health centers of 2017. Nevertheless, in the 1950s, patients were provided with inhumane treatments such as lobotomies. Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, provides an accurate portrayal of a psychiatric ward in the 1950s. The antagonist, Nurse Ratched, hopes her patients will not recover and manipulates them to gain authority. In contrast with the past, Nurses of the present day treat individuals with respect. Conduct towards mentally ill patients has changed since the 1950s in ways such as public attitude, medication, and

Through the course of time, mental illnesses have always been in existence due to varying factors and causes. However, as time has passed, the perceptions and available treatments for mental illnesses have also changed as new technology was developed. By looking at the treatments and perceptions of mental illnesses in the early 20th century, we can learn how to properly treat and diagnose not only mental disorders but also other conditions as well as show us the importance of review boards and controlled clinical trials.

When thinking of mental illness, we typically assume it is associated with down syndrome. In the Nineteen Thirties to Nineteen Fifties, countless mentally ill sufferers were classified as “possessed” and often disowned and ashamed, only to be denied by their families all because their disability was their own fault. Mental illness treatment has evolved immensely since the 1930’s to 1950’s from aggressive treatment on patients and even causing death to more self controlled medications and more appropriate treatments.

“While there are many experts in the psychoanalysis of individuals, there seems to be little active authority or understanding in the matter of the persistent shared madness in everyday life. It's as if collective mental illness doesn't exist except in the vernacular and in contemporary folk myth, where it remains trapped and politically useless.” A quote from Michael Leunig.

I think insanity can be consider during the time a crime was committed without any history of mental illness. Experiences and events can mold and change the way some acts or views things. I agree it is very difficult to determine insanity, especially if there isn’t any history of it. A history of mental illness would definitely support the claim.

Schmiedebach, H. (2011). The reputation of psychiatry in the first half of the twentieth century. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience,261, 192-6. doi:http://0-dx.doi.org.uafs.iii.com/10.1007/s00406-011-0247-x