The History of Mental Illness
Melissa Alcala
Mrs.Villalpando
P2
5/20/2014
The History of Mental Illness
Throughout the years, mental illness has always been seen as a moral weakness, not physical.
Since it was never really understood, cultures viewed mental illness as a form of religious punishment or demonic possession. Three of the most common mental illnesses are anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia. Individuals with anxiety have always been told to “just get over it and stop worrying about everything.” However, to this day, people do not realize that those who suffer from anxiety cannot just stop worrying over things that don’t matter to most. People with depression and people who are sad are something totally different. Lastly, people with schizophrenia are viewed as crazy and dangerous. For these reasons, history has viewed these individuals differently and have been misunderstood.
Because of the fact that people never quite understood mental illness, individuals were often mistreated. If you had a mental illness, you were perceived as a danger to society and were immediately transferred to jail with no further questions asked. Things like this are difficult to believe, but they did in fact happen in our world. People with mental illnesses were not allowed out and were basically isolated from society only because people did not understand what was happening in their minds.
Imagine having to face a life inside a jail cell or a public basement for most of your life. To me, having a mental illness is all too familiar so when I hear about things like this that actually happen in history, it hits me hard because if I were to have been born in this century, I know I would have been one of many to experience the stigmatization and the unhygienic confinement of these mentally ill individuals. In the 1800’s for example, people were not viewed as “crazy”, they were viewed as being Satan. However, there were two specific individuals who began to do something about
Mrs.Villalpando
P2
5/20/2014
The History of Mental Illness
Throughout the years, mental illness has always been seen as a moral weakness, not physical.
Since it was never really understood, cultures viewed mental illness as a form of religious punishment or demonic possession. Three of the most common mental illnesses are anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia. Individuals with anxiety have always been told to “just get over it and stop worrying about everything.” However, to this day, people do not realize that those who suffer from anxiety cannot just stop worrying over things that don’t matter to most. People with depression and people who are sad are something totally different. Lastly, people with schizophrenia are viewed as crazy and dangerous. For these reasons, history has viewed these individuals differently and have been misunderstood.
Because of the fact that people never quite understood mental illness, individuals were often mistreated. If you had a mental illness, you were perceived as a danger to society and were immediately transferred to jail with no further questions asked. Things like this are difficult to believe, but they did in fact happen in our world. People with mental illnesses were not allowed out and were basically isolated from society only because people did not understand what was happening in their minds.
Imagine having to face a life inside a jail cell or a public basement for most of your life. To me, having a mental illness is all too familiar so when I hear about things like this that actually happen in history, it hits me hard because if I were to have been born in this century, I know I would have been one of many to experience the stigmatization and the unhygienic confinement of these mentally ill individuals. In the 1800’s for example, people were not viewed as “crazy”, they were viewed as being Satan. However, there were two specific individuals who began to do something about