1. Dix’s values of the mentally ill impacted their treatment. In the United States she helped create more than 30 hospitals. She told people that individuals with mental disturbances could not be cured. Before this People didn’t care what happened to the mentally ill. They put them in prisons and some were kept in cages.…
Before beginning her extensive reforms, she was a prolific writer and elementary school teacher (Parry, 2006). Her writings, especially the schoolbooks she wrote, reflect her belief that women should be educated to the same level as men, which was not a common belief at the time (Parry, 2006). (DT 4, 5, 6) However, Dix did not limit her influence to the healthcare sphere. She also got involved with politics in order to further her reformational agenda.…
In 1841 Dorthea Dix started the prison and asylum reform movement. Her goal was to change the horrible way people were treated in prisons in the mid 1900s. During her time trying to reform these places she was met with many obstacles. After two years of investigating every prison in Massachusetts she wrote how badly the imprisoned and mentally ill were treated in these places. For example one way the mentally ill were treated poorley was that they were not given heated rooms because people believed they could not distinguish between hot and cold, an example on how prisoners were treated horribly is that they were beaten into submission.…
Strength Found in Susie In the inspirational movie Wit, there are many miscues in the healthcare-client interaction and moral character within the health field towards Vivian Bearing. Vivian, a doctorate of English literature, is suffering from stage four metastatic ovarian cancer. Throughout the film, Vivian experiences terrible bedside manner from physicians, ignorance of hospital staff, and feelings of being nothing more than scientific research.…
Dorothea Lynde 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”. Dix was a school teacher, a writer, a superintendent of nurses during the Civil War, and among all those accomplishments; her biggest one was being a reformer for improved treatment of the mentally ill. She started her work in 1843 in which there were only thirteen mental institutions and by 1880 there were a total of one hundred and twenty-three of which she personally oversaw thirty-two of the establishments. Dorothea Lynde Dix was a very remarkable woman who dedicated over forty years of her life in helping to change the ways that people think about patients who are mentally ill. Dorothea Dix was born in Hampden, Maine on April 4, 1802.…
“...prisoners flogged, starved, chained, physically and sexually abused by their keepers, and left naked and without heat or sanitation...” (history.com). Dorothea also went to East Cambridge Jail and asked to see the insane prisoners (healthresearchfunding.org). There, she found an insane woman chained to the wall (healthresearchfunding.org). When she asked why the prisoner didn't have a fire, the guard responded with “These people don't need a fire. It wouldn’t be safe for them.…
Dorothea Dix became world-renowned for her work on behalf of the mentally ill. Dix devoted her energies to the mentally ill and advanced such penal reforms as the education of prisoners and the separation of various types of offenders. This Document shows the protection rights which is a large factor of a democratic society. The American youth was a large focus during this time since education was becoming more and more important (Doc. E). Declaring that "In a republic, ignorance is a crime," Horace Mann set out to reform the system of public education in Massachusetts until it became a model for the rest of the country.…
Before the Age of Reform, and Dorothea Dix, mentally ill were placed in prisons with other convicts. Because of their differences they were neglected, abused, and even tortured. Thankfully due to Dix’s efforts the mentally ill were removed from the prisons and placed into their own separate state hospitals. Much like the mentally ill, there was a time when women prisoners were forced to endure prison like with both male inmates and male guards. This caused women prisoners to be subject to an ultimate amount of violence and sexual assault, until they were finally removed and put into their own prison with other male…
Other non-woman’s rights issues were criticized, like the dilemma of mental institutions, when Dorothea Dix called the attention of the Massachusetts legislature for “the present state of insane persons confined within this Commonwealth in cages, closets, cellars, stalls, pens” (Doc F). After women banded together for these types of issues, women’s rights were debated, with Susan B. Anthony as a powerful female rights speaker, Elizabeth Cady Stanton pressing…
Though prior to the movement mental illness was thought to be a curse or evil spirit, Dorothea Dix petitioned in 1843, after examining many patients with mental illness, that mental illness was linked to a physical, scientifically provable phenomenon. Despite her efforts, many regions still did not accept the establishment of mental health facilities. Lewis Dwight was another reformer for prison systems who founded the Boston Prison Discipline Society which ended up eventually spread the Auburn system to jails – a system that promoted group work during the day and silent work at…
Pfeiffer’s article “A Death in the Box” discusses the unfortunate reality that the mentally ill are forced to face within the criminal justice system by detailing the life and tragic suicide of a young mentally ill woman named Jessica Roger. The article centers on the debate about the punishments given to mentally deficient inmates and reveals the main underlying problem the system faces in that “when people with mental illness end up in prison, the need to treat them collides with the need to keep prison order, and everything about the system favors the latter” (Pfeiffer 3). While maintaining order may seem to be more important at first glance, misinformation and improper treatment of the mentally ill inmates can lead to a worsening of the condition, behavior, or even physical and psychological harm to the people involved. Even worse that the neglectful actions the prisons exhibit when treating the patients, the disciplinary action enforced on those suffering from illness are unjust as the “mentally ill inmates are punished for exhibiting symptoms of illness that the system has failed to treat” (Pfeiffer 3). Therefore, not only does the criminal justice system neglect to provide the mentally ill with assistance and treatment, but also forces disciplinary action upon those they fail in the process leading to a population of mentally deficient inmates slowly having their life sucked away by a corrupt…
By 1820, it had already been recognized that mental illness was illness, not sin or depravity, therefore, many institutions across the world had begun to free the mentally ill from excessive restraints and had also begun to establish the concept of humane treatment in institutions devoted to their care. Dix, however, perfected the idea and the new model of care became known as the moral treatment. The moral treatment consisted of removing mentally ill persons from a stressful environment and family conflicts and placing them under a rather benign but autocratic system of organized living. There were regular hours of habits, and the patients were kept occupied with crafts such as gardening and more. Everything was under the close supervision of a superintendent, a physician, and his word was law.…
Nursing is an honorable and ethical profession. As nurses, we have an obligation to our patients, as well as society. This is why I was interested in the the American Nurses Association (ANA) position statement on nurse's role in capital punishment. Nurses are bound to standards for ethical clinical practice, but as individuals and as a profession, we are also responsible to be promoting social justice and public health. The ANA position affirms “… nurses should strive for social changes which recognize the human dignity of all individuals and uphold rights to be free from cruel and unusual punishment,” even in light of legalized death penalty (ANA, 2013)…
Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, Keller tackled social and political issues, including women’s suffrage, pacifism and birth control. She testified before Congress, strongly advocating to improve the welfare of blind…
The treatment of people with mental illnesses and handicaps has been a long lasting problem because of the misunderstandings of police, mental hospitals, and society. Many documentaries and movies have been made to show the lives lead in mental hospitals and institutions. News reports have talked about police shooting suspects who have been mentally ill. Most of these events could have been avoided if people could try and learn about mental illnesses, instead of hiding them away from the rest of the world. Just because they are physically or mentally different from the norm, society expects them to be maintained at an institution like dogs in a dog pound.…