What Has Changed From The 1800's To Today

If I were to ask you, “ What has changed in our country between the 1800’s to

today”, what would you say? Two changes stick out to me. The first is gender. How men

and women behave and are treated in society has changed drastically. The second

change is mental illness. Back then people who had mental illnesses and disorders

were considered mentally insane or inhuman. It took many years for our society to

realize that how we approached these issues were wrong and needed to be

reevaluated.

During the 19th and 20th century it was hard to live as a woman in our society.

Kelley Smith says, “ some even compare the conditions of women in this time to a form

of slavery.” Woman would first serve there father and brothers until marriage,
These things now belonging to her husband.

Women were expected to be house cleaners, mothers, and were “derived of any form of

respected job or education.” It wasn’t until the late 20th century when women could

have the right to vote and obtain other rights of there own.

Throughout history, there have been radical changes in how the mentally ill are

treated and cared for, most of these occurred because of changing societal views

and knowledge of mental illness. In the 1800’s and 1900’s “postpartum

depression was not diagnosed as a legitimate condition.” Because women were

deprived from many opportunities, postpartum depression turned into a “rash of

so-called “hysteria” cases.” This so-called “hysteria” was a female illness that

was caused by a woman’s “delicate constitutions” and “ emotionality.” Doctors

also believed it was caused by the uterus because many women became

depressed after giving birth. Woman were left untreated and “driven mad.”

There were many things that have changed since the 1800’s and 1900’s. If

we learned to stop or solve these issues sooner, I believe that today’s

society would be so much farther than it is now. Mental illness and