Dorothea Dix And The Mental Hygiene Movement

Have you ever heard of Dorothea Dix? Unfortunately, most people have never heard of this amazing woman. Dorothea Dix was a pioneer in the mental health reform and made important contributions to her field. Her tireless commitment improved living conditions and treatment for people with mental illness.

Dorothea Dix (1802-1887) did not have a very happy childhood. She grew up in the United States with an alcoholic father and a mother with severe mental illness. Consequently, she was deeply sensitive to the disadvantaged and socially excluded. Her experiences led her to create the mental hygiene movement.

At the age of 39, Dorothea Dix started volunteering in prison for women with mental health problems . This made a lasting impression on her and gave her ideas for her movement. The primary goal of her movement was to make decent psychological treatment available to everyone, including the homeless. This simple idea led to significant changes. It helped to implement what we know as moral treatment and changed the hygiene conditions of psychiatric institutions.

The “insane”: Marginalized from society

In the early 19th century, people with signs of serious mental health problems were labeled “insane.” Initially, people thought they lacked judgment or reason. They were treated as wild animals that had to be locked up in a mental asylum. They were also the object of ridicule and contempt. The conditions in the mental asylum environments were inhuman. For example, patients were beaten, starved, isolated and forced to take chemical substances.

One of the factors that helped change the situation was a treatment given to King George III. He became known as “Mad King George” because he suffered from porphyria. His doctors tried an unusual treatment for the disease, which was to give him large amounts of donkey milk. In light of the success of this treatment, a budding social optimism arose about the possibility of using therapeutic measures for patients with mental health problems.

Moral treatment: Human and individualized treatment

From there, society came closer and closer to a psychosocial approach to mental illness. The first half of the 18th century was defined by the principles of the Enlightenment. Recognition of individual rights became a necessity. In this context, “moral treatment” was born.

People associated this concept with emotions and psychology. It was closely linked to the idea that there is a code of conduct that everyone should follow. Some of the basic principles of moral treatment were the natural and respectful treatment of hospitalized patients. Interpersonal interaction and contact were very important, as well as individualized attention.

These ideas were a complete reversal of the previous idea of ​​mental health and psychiatric patients. They embraced humanity, individualization and frugal cultivation of social relationships. In fact, moral treatment in Europe and the United States was what transformed mental asylum into livable places that had the patient’s convalescence in mind.

The decline in moral treatment

After the first half of the 19th century, this therapeutic strategy entered a period of decline. It was because of the many patients who sought help from these psychiatric institutions. This increase is due to a number of factors. One of them was the arrival of immigrants after the American Civil War. Another was Dorothea Dix’s mental hygiene movement. The unexpected and direct consequence of her movement was the disproportionate increase in hospital patients.

When Dorothea came to England, she began to have lung problems. During her illness , she talked to many theorists who helped her learn about different approaches to mental health. Among them were moral treatment, the contrast between life in loneliness and life in society, elimination of mechanical limitations and occupational therapy with patients.

Dix also had the opportunity to visit a women’s hospital while working as a volunteer. She even saw the patients’ terrible living conditions. The situation shocked her so much that she decided to dedicate herself completely to the cause. That’s when she started visiting all kinds of mental health and penitentiary facilities. Her goal was to fully understand the poor treatment and abuse that the patients experienced so that she could change the situation. From there, her mental health movement worked to eliminate social prejudices. She and her successors fought for basic human dignity.

Dorothea Dix and the reform of psychiatric institutions

Dix was able to gather enough evidence of the problem to appeal to the Massachusetts legislature. As a result, she was able to change the terrible living conditions of the psychiatric patients. Not only that, but she sheds some light on the abuse they experienced. She published her book, Remarks on Prisons and Prison Discipline in the United States , in 1845. This book helped establish psychiatric hospitals in eleven states across the country.

Dorothea Dix may not be one of the most famous women in history. But her contribution to the mental health field was significant. Her tireless commitment brought ethics and morality back into therapeutic strategies for psychiatric patients.

In conclusion, without her work, it is possible that patients would have continued to be abused for decades. Dix and others bravely fought to reform these institutions. We now know them as promoters of a new era of intervention and treatment for people with mental illness.