Mental Illnesses In The 1800s

Mental health illness are more prevalent than people think, or want to believe. An estimate of 61.5 million Americans experience mental illnesses in a year. Contrary to popular belief, anyone can fall victim to a mental health illness. Approximately Four million adolescents suffer from mental illnesses, in the United States (www.nami.org). The growing rate of mental health issues has concluded in the improvement and expansion of mental health treatment, more research is being done on the different kinds of illnesses, and how to treat them, or cope with them. The treatment process for mental health patients has in a way evolved. There were many practices that were performed in the late 1800s and even before then, that are no longer being used
Many believed that the people who suffered from mental illnesses were somehow possessed or involved in witchcraft. People that were thought to have a mental illnesses were shunned and, forced to stay in their homes, away from other people. For the most part the mentally ill were left alone in their homes and untreated, but there were some that were not as lucky. Many mentally ill people were sent to jail, or burned at the stake because they were suspected to be involved in witchcraft and demonic practices. Some of the mentally ill were inhumanly chained to in basements, not given the right care or nourishment. They were often put on display, whipped and beaten, as a form of entertainment for others to
The hospitals were often over populated and the patients were mistreated. Rooms designed for one to two patients, usually held four to five patients. Doctor’s diagnosis were often inaccurate, and the forms of treatment used were inhumane. The practice of Phrenology was introduced by, Franz Joseph Gall, a neuroanatomies, who believed that there was a connection between the size and shape of your skull, and your mental characteristics. A doctor would run their fingertips over a person’s head, to find bumps in the person’s skull. Doctors believed that the bumps were personality characteristics. Phrenology was thought to be very controversial, and is no longer put into practice