Imagine living in a place where you were sent for avail with a disability and it turns out to be a nightmare. A nightmare where you are residing in poor conditions, abused by a corrupt staff, and undergo dangerous operations on without your permission. Albeit many of us would never experience this, it was a cold-hearted reality for the mentally ill. Not only were the mentally ill treated horrible in “institutions” back in the mid-1800s to mid-1900s but outside they were not treated any better. In this research paper I am going to look into the treatment of the mentally ill in the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s.
Predicated on accumulated information, it is known that mental institutions in this duration were cruel and they brought immense damage …show more content…
The consequences of this were the mentally ill were brutally abused by their violent jailmates. Dix then studied various prison facilities across the country and came up with the same conclusion as the one she came up with the prison at which she worked. The mentally ill living alongside violent criminals were often abused.
Dorothea Dix presented her findings to a legislature in Massachusetts. Everyone there was shocked by her description of the physical and sexual abuse, malnourishment, and the mentally ill being left naked in the cold. With this she started a movement of Institutions to help and treat the mentally ill across the country. Dorothea Dix would be mortified at how the institutions she worked hard to establish turned out to be.
From the mid-19th century to mid-20th century, it was apparent that mental health was not understood very well. American society decided that the best way to help the mentally ill was to institutionalize them. In hindsight, this led to the mentally ill being left out of society and institutions served more to segregation than aid the ill. Those who started mental institutions had good intentions, but these good intentions eventually were …show more content…
Henry Laughlin did not care for the mental patients’ rights and performed sterilization without their knowledge and consent. In this time period their belief “was on eugenics and looking to produce the best possible race”.
Surgeon John Fulton performed a lobotomy on two chimpanzees, causing the usually moody animals to calm down. In turn, the successful surgery greatly influenced a professor from the University of Lisbon Medical School named Dr. Antonio Egas Moniz. Dr. Antonio Egas Moniz “he proposed to cut surgically the nerve fibers which connect the frontal and prefrontal cortex to the thalamus, a structure located deep in the brain, which is responsible for relaying sensory information to the cortex”.
Moniz theorized that in doing lobotomies it can eliminate the mental patients’ toxic repetitive thoughts. Moniz worked with his colleague Dr. Almeida Lima on a surgical operation called leucotomy. Leucotomy is an operation where several small holes are drilled into two sides of the brain, then he inserts a special wire knife into the brain substance.With a couple of movements the fibers were cut and the patient could
Predicated on accumulated information, it is known that mental institutions in this duration were cruel and they brought immense damage …show more content…
The consequences of this were the mentally ill were brutally abused by their violent jailmates. Dix then studied various prison facilities across the country and came up with the same conclusion as the one she came up with the prison at which she worked. The mentally ill living alongside violent criminals were often abused.
Dorothea Dix presented her findings to a legislature in Massachusetts. Everyone there was shocked by her description of the physical and sexual abuse, malnourishment, and the mentally ill being left naked in the cold. With this she started a movement of Institutions to help and treat the mentally ill across the country. Dorothea Dix would be mortified at how the institutions she worked hard to establish turned out to be.
From the mid-19th century to mid-20th century, it was apparent that mental health was not understood very well. American society decided that the best way to help the mentally ill was to institutionalize them. In hindsight, this led to the mentally ill being left out of society and institutions served more to segregation than aid the ill. Those who started mental institutions had good intentions, but these good intentions eventually were …show more content…
Henry Laughlin did not care for the mental patients’ rights and performed sterilization without their knowledge and consent. In this time period their belief “was on eugenics and looking to produce the best possible race”.
Surgeon John Fulton performed a lobotomy on two chimpanzees, causing the usually moody animals to calm down. In turn, the successful surgery greatly influenced a professor from the University of Lisbon Medical School named Dr. Antonio Egas Moniz. Dr. Antonio Egas Moniz “he proposed to cut surgically the nerve fibers which connect the frontal and prefrontal cortex to the thalamus, a structure located deep in the brain, which is responsible for relaying sensory information to the cortex”.
Moniz theorized that in doing lobotomies it can eliminate the mental patients’ toxic repetitive thoughts. Moniz worked with his colleague Dr. Almeida Lima on a surgical operation called leucotomy. Leucotomy is an operation where several small holes are drilled into two sides of the brain, then he inserts a special wire knife into the brain substance.With a couple of movements the fibers were cut and the patient could