Mental Illness: Prison And Asylum Reform

Midwest and South, as well as in portions of eastern Canada. At this point, she had helped to establish six new hospitals for the mentally ill and had influenced the improvement of numerous other facilities.” She continued on doing this for the next three years. In 1848 she asked for over 12 million acres of land for the mentally ill including the blind and the deaf from Congress. Both houses of Congress, approved of this but then “vetoed by President Franklin Pierce” in 1854.

She created the first round of mental asylums in the United States, and during the civil war, she was the superintendent of army nurses. Dorothea lobbied endlessly for changes to be made to prisoner’s treatment and for separate mental hospitals and prisons.

Furthermore this led her to develop a practice and asylums that gave the mentally ill another chance at life. In addition as one of the many outstanding leaders

A a few years down the road in 1841, Dix was asked to teach a Sunday school class to a group of women who were doing time in the East Cambridge Jail. Dix went into the jail one person, and came out a completely different one. Going further in the aforementioned Encyclopedia website, it was pointed out that after Dorothea taught the inmates, she was able to get a tour of the jail, which led her to discover the “dungeon cells” which held mentally insane people (para. 10). Horrified to see people of all ages and gender emaciated and half-naked, fettered to different objects, and sleeping on the dirty floors of their cells, Dix started her campaign to help immediately. After surveying every jail she could get into, Dorothea submitted her findings to the Massachusetts legislature (para 11).

Despite this, Goldenson has claimed Dix as “the most effective advocate of humanitarian reform in American mental institutions during the nineteenth century”. Similarly, Kovach has stated that "there are few cases in history where a social movement of such proportions can be attributed to the work of a single individual” due to her relentless and persisting efforts in improving the lives of the mentally ill. Consequently, Dorothea Dix played a significant role in improving the lives of the mentally ill in spite of being unable to improve and change certain aspects within the asylum movement.

Dorothea Lynde Dix Dorothea Dix is well known for her efforts to reform insane asylums and because of her dedication to changing the lives of help themselves who are in need of assistance, such as the mentally ill and the imprisoned. “She was a leading figure in those national and international movements that challenged the idea that people with mental disturbances could not be cured or helped.” Throughout her years of improving and changing of the prison conditions and the mentally ill, Dorothea Dix has made significant changes through her efforts and can be seen all over the U.S, Canada, and many European Countries. Dorothea Dix was born in a small town of Hampden, Maine in 1802. Dorothea Lynde Dix´s parents were Joseph and Mary Dix.

“…her changes are still being felt today with the way mental patients are treated. This one woman accomplished much for humanity within her lifespan.” Dorothea Dix was a great woman activist in history who fought for a great cause. Her fight for Prison reform and the fair treatment of the mentally ill is a great achievement because of the impact it has left on modern day Legal System. She felt the need to bring this topic of Prison Reform to light because of the neglect it faced.

She lectured and wrote about women's rights throughout her life. In the 1850’s, she was

How patients with mental disabilities’ treatment has changed over the years is drastic, and deserves to be noted. In the past, the patients were treated very poorly. According the Szasz, it was once believed that mental illness was caused by demonic possession, witchcraft, or an angry god. For example, in medieval times, odd behaviors were a sign that the person was possessed by demons. From the 1400s to the 1600s, a common belief sustained by religious organizations was that some people made pacts with the devil and committed terrible acts, such as eating babies.

Also, there are ways to educated one with mental illness about how to take charge and

Summary I: Alyssa and her dad just came back from the asylum, visiting her mom. Alyssa’s dad is dropping her off at work. While waiting in the car for her shift to start, she saw a flier for a ECT (electro convulsive therapy). Alyssa hated the thought of her mother, Alison, getting shocked to the head multiple times for two hours. The fact of the matter is her father already signed Alison up for the ECT.

The women were often arrested on made up charges and were jailed when they refused to pay fines. They were sent to Occoquan Workhouse, a prison in Virginia (Carol, Myers, Lindman, n.d., National Woman 's Party, Picketing and Prison section, para 2). The women staged hunger strikes and “were forcibly fed in a tortuous method” (Carol, Myers, Lindman, n.d., National Woman 's Party, Picketing and Prison section, para 2). The women were beaten and thrown into “cold, unsanitary, and rat-infested cells” (Carol, Myers, Lindman, n.d., National Woman 's Party, Picketing and Prison section, para 2). Eventually prison officials moved Alice to a sanitarium to get her declared insane but the news of her treatment, along with the other women, became public.

It relies on any method that lets the client help be themselves and express themselves. Also, the therapist may cooperate with other specialist or institutions,

As she gained fame she often viewed workhouses and private homes where they kept people in cages and closets while chained and beaten. She went on to get the government to fund 32 hospitals for the people who were being abused and the mentally ill and wanted to put an end to it.

Physical healing is plain and evident and is addressed through the provision of healthcare. Physical healing is left under the care of medical practitioners such as doctors, nurses, and clinicians. On the other hand, emotional healing can reflect a deeper hurt which if not addressed completely will act as stimuli for future delinquency. It can be provided by psychiatrists, professional social workers, psychologist, and case workers. Healing can be achieved through tools such as psychotherapy and school outreach programs, and provision of psychological care to