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Whitney ParishDr. Wanda WhiteEnglish 1102-018March 24, 2014Treatments of the mentally ill in the 1800`sWhenever you think of a mental ward you see cushioned walls. And craft areas where mentally ill patients live out their lives in comfort, and away from all harmful things, but in reality this is not true. The horrific truth on what really goes on inside the mental institutes in the 1800`s is buried under carefully planned out lies. My question is what really goes on behind closed doors?History of Mental wardsThere was a dramatic increase in the number of mentally institutionalized patients during the mid-17th century. With this massive incline in the number of insane individuals the parishes decided to do something to control this evil. Many churches opened their doors to families who had been burdened by the task of caring for a mental ill member. In the late 17th century privately owned asylums began to grow in size and number of patients CITATION All10 \l 1033 (Foerschner, 2010). In the 18th century after the parishes had handed over responsibility to the medical professionals the first real mental asylums were born. CITATION htt \l 1033 (2014)With this change in leadership came the true beginnings of the malicious mistreatment of the patients. When the parishes controlled the mental wards they believed the illness were created by sin CITATION All10 \l 1033 (Foerschner, 2010), and believed that with prayer the patients could be healed. Once the federal medical system took over the care of the mentally ill and the asylums in the 18th century the doctors did not believe in such gentle treatment of the mentally ill that many saw as cursed. Present Day Stereotypes Today if you were to google mental wards in the 1800`s many things would pop up. Some of the most popular types of images are as followed.Dirty sleeping areas with mangled looking humans spread all aroundNurses giving shots to un-corporative patience.Individuals locked away in strait jackets. In the eyes of many, insane asylums are holding cells and treatment areas for the so called “crazies”, but what society fails to see is what many thought was crazy then is just a lifestyle choice now. The secrets of what really went on behind closed doors is way to horrific for society to even believe. Also the view of what an insane asylum was very falsely advertised. ?“In a case study describes a typical scene at La Bicetre, a hospital in Paris, starting with patients shackled to the wall in dark, cramped cells. Iron cuffs and collars permitted just enough movement to allow patients to feed themselves but not enough to lie down at night, so they were forced to sleep upright. Little attention was paid to the quality of the food or whether patients were adequately fed. There were no visitors to the cell except to deliver food, and the rooms were never cleaned. Patients had to make do with a little amount of straw to cover the cold floor and were forced to sit amongst their own waste that was also never cleaned up” (Butcher 37). These conditions were not all unique to La Bicetre, and this case study paints a fairly accurate picture of a typical scene in asylums around the world from approximately the 1500s to the mid-1800s” CITATION All10 \l 1033 (Foerschner, 2010).What is crazy?When you imagine the type of individuals that would be submitted into an insane asylum many people would see the same thing. Maybe a serial killer that had a traumatic childhood. Or just your everyday schizophrenic patient that see imaginary things. Maybe just the occasional person who talks to themselves. In the 1800`s things have to be far less serious for you to be submitted into a ward. Many of the reasons for submitting were simple things like being gay, laziness, jealousy and, fell from horse in war CITATION Tar13 \l 1033 (McGinley, 2013). When seeing the ridiculous list of reasons you could be submitted one can only imagine the ridiculous treatments for such illnesses, but in reality the treatments are much more serious than the illness themselves. Either way mental illnesses are nothing to joke about. Whether it seems serious or not the ones that are overlooked could become dangerous. Many people do not even know they have a mental illness until checked out from a doctor.Treatments“In the late 1800s, a German Scientists Emil Kraepelin, began researching the different kinds of mental illnesses, in order to begin finding a treatment for each. The issue of mental illnesses was taken more seriously at this point in time, and it became known that a mental illness can be passes through genetics, as opposed to being caused by injury. CITATION Sal \l 1033 (Romero, n.d.)” “The majority of asylums were staffed by gravely untrained, unqualified individuals who treated mentally ill patients like animals” CITATION All10 \l 1033 (Foerschner, 2010). “When staff did attempt to cure the patients, they followed the practices typical of the time period—purging and bloodletting, the most common. Other treatments included dousing the patient in either hot or ice-cold water to shock their minds back into a normal state. The belief that patients needed to choose rationality over insanity led to techniques aiming to intimidate (Butcher 37). Blistering, physical restraints, threats, and straitjackets were employed to achieve this end. Powerful drugs were also administered, for example, to a hysterical patient in order to exhaust them (Butcher 37, Alexander 109). Around the mid-1700s, the Dutch Dr. Boerhaave invented the “gyrating chair” that became a popular tool in Europe and the?United States. This instrument was intended to shake up the blood and tissues of the body to restore equilibrium, but instead resulted in rendering the patient unconscious without any recorded successes (Alexander 109) CITATION All10 \l 1033 (Foerschner, 2010)”Another treatment that they used was electro shock therapy. “This treatment, ECT, was introduced as effective for psychiatric disorders and illnesses. These include depression and catatonia. The medical term is Electroconvulsive Therapy?and scientists still do not really know how or if it really works. The concept of shooting 220 volts of electricity through a human being is horrible, something a sadist might think of. The average home is supplied with 220 volts of electric service” CITATION hub \l 1033 (hub pages, n.d.).Many patients died during all of these procedures, but death did not stop the doctors with continuing with these brutal experiments. Many times when a patient was killed during experimental treatments the doctors would lie about how the patient died to keep themselves from getting in trouble. Many times if the patient did not have any immediate family that cared to check up on them, they would just dispose of the body without a word. Turning point?As always after years of this brutal treatment of mentally ill patients the news of how they were being treated started to leak out into the public. Dorthea Dix was an important activist. “She was a reformist fighting for the care of the mentally-ill. In 1841, after visiting and seeing how the mentally- ill were treated and, imprisoned, and chained naked to the wall she decided to improve the way the mentally-ill were treated. As her reports, visits to doctors, and advances for changes to help protect the mentally-ill became successful in Massachusetts, she eventually spread her thoughts to other parts of the country, Europe, and Asia, eventually opening 32 mental hospitals. By 1880, new and improved mental hospitals were opened around the country CITATION Ama \l 1033 (Carlozzi).”In today’s society there are many more options than putting a mentally ill individual away. There are many trained doctors that can help, also many organizations that can help them maintain a normal life. Around the beginning of the 19th century, Europeans researched and introduced a brand new approach to the treatments given to the mentally ill. This treatment is known as “Moral Management.” This treatment is based off the belief that the environment played a very important vital and key role in the successful care and treatment of the mentally ill. By doctors creating a homier feel. They changed the whole entire look of the hospitals. They added nicer beds, homier pictures and decorations. They also replaced the shackles used to chain the patient up with to a more humane restraints. This whole idea of change was thought that recovery would more likely occur if conditions and surroundings resembled the comfort of home CITATION Kim \l 1033 (Leupo). Phrenology was introduced, this is the study of the shape of the brain. This is done to explain where and why someone has the illnesses and try to diagnose the patient. Many other doctors used animal magnetism. This was another more popular practice used. With the doctors concentrating on the benefits of hypnosis and relaxation treatment for the mentally ill improved tremendously. Even though this was a positive change problems surfaced. With the lack of restraints some of the more server patients started to become very unruly and out of control. This become a very big problem. To battle these concerns, work programs and recreational activities were devised for patients in asylums. This significantly worked toward the building of the bridge between society and the hospital CITATION Ama \l 1033 (Carlozzi).After looking back and reflecting on all of the changes in the treatment of the mentally ill we see that by drug therapy, and state and federal public policies in the 1960s. That state institutions must change their procedures resembling the previous moral management revolution. There was an important emphasize on the protection of the patients and their born human rights. There rights had been overlooked. During this change brand new trustworthy trained professionals were hired to work in mental wards CITATION Ama \l 1033 (Carlozzi).This change in management created the big change in treatments. These treatments were used to help the patients maintain a normal balance not to shock them into being normal. With this improvement there was a noticeable move towards de-institutionalize mental patients. In 1960 there were over 500,000 patients in mental institutions in America CITATION Ama \l 1033 (Carlozzi). It had become very clear that there many patients in mental wards that were indeed not mental, and could come back into society. Many patients were even able to come back into society with out-patient care. With this outpatient care many services were provided. With this patient care it was 24- hours. The care was available day and night hospital help. Pre and after care was also very important, because some patients were still in shock from the cruel procedures used on them prior. CITATION Ama \l 1033 (Carlozzi) All these changes made a huge impact on society today. This breakthrough in medical treatment became a huge deal. In 1964 the Health Bill was signed. The Medicare and Medicaid Acts in 1966 also happened CITATION Ama \l 1033 (Carlozzi). Works Cited BIBLIOGRAPHY (2014). Retrieved from , A. (n.d.). Treatment of the mentally ill in the 1800`s. Foerschner, A. M. (2010). STUDENT PULSE. Retrieved from The History of Mental Illness: From "Skull Drills" to "Happy Pills": pages. (n.d.). Retrieved from Electric Shock Treatment For Mental Illness-Therapy Or Torture?: , K. (n.d.). The History of Mental Illness. Retrieved from , T. (2013, 10 22). Retrieved from Dangerous minds: , S. A. (n.d.). Retrieved from ................
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