Mental a Health In Antebellum America by Marcus Center

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Mental a Health In Antebellum America

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IN ANTEBELLUM AMERICA

Psychiatric hospitals in Antebellum America were of very poor quality, utilizing things like shock water treatment and intentional bleeding along with strong drugs.
The mentally ill were also sometimes thrown in prison, with little regard for their conditions.
The first exclusively psychiatric hospital, Eastern State Hospital, was opened in Williamsburg, Virginia, on October 12th, 1773.

Dorothea Dix, a human rights advocate, was the first major advocate for proper treatment of the mentally ill. She began her major works in 1841.
She helped establish five psychiatric hospitals in America, and also pleaded for human rights in foreign countries.
Dr. John Galt, superintendent of Eastern State Hospital in 1841, advocated for the use of less powerful drugs as well as “talk therapy”, both of which were new approaches at the time. He was also against lifelong institutionalizations.

New York Law School professor Michael Perlin claims that even today the rights of the mentally ill are being infringed, and institutionalizations is still used in other countries as a political tool.
Those with mental disabilities sometimes are unable to pay for their treatment, and thus either burden their loved ones or refuse treatment entirely rather than have to deal with such a bill.
Solutions to these issues include less costly health care, as well as education in other countries as well as our own in relation treatment of the mentally ill.

Photo by c_ambler

DARKER BLUES SIGNIFY LESS ACCESS TO CARE FOR THE MEDICALLY ILL