Mental Illness in the 19 th century Victorian England

1. Mental Illness in the 19th century Victorian England Allie Haltof Kailee Zornow Alex Swanger Abergavenny Lunatic Asylum (1849-1852)

2. Diagnosing the Mentally Ill • Many theories of mental illness during the Victorian Age • Psychology was not used during the time • Doctors and educated people developed common characteristics of the mentally ill: AGE: 25-40 years. GENDER: Usually female Those with jobs involving mental exertion were more susceptible, as well as those who were excessively devoted to religion -Emotions that led to insanity: strong passion, grief, and jealousy

3. Diagnosis through Phrenology • Specialized “doctors” called phrenologists read the shapes and sizes of people’s heads, as well as the shapes and measurements of their facial features • Using this information, it is believed that they were able to determine if one was inclined towards insanity or criminality

4. Diagnosis and Specific Afflictions • Victorian doctors had their own terminology for common mental illnesses of today: • “melancholia” = severe depression • “monomania”=obsessive-compulsive disorder • “mania”=schizophrenia • “partial insanity”=hysteria, hypochondria and other neurotic states of mind

5. Asylums Before 1850 • Common belief was that the mentally ill suffered a “disease of the soul” or an evil within • Patients of asylums often treated like animals: kept in cages, given small amounts of unclean food, had little to no clothing, wore no shoes, and slept in dirt • Physical restraints were used (patients tied down to keep them from escaping) • Straightjackets were used, patients even were chained to walls

6. Asylums after 1850 • The public started seeing insanity as a mental condition and not a moral disorder • A movement for reform of asylums began • New mental hospitals had nicer conditions and the ability for patients to go outdoors • Patients were given clothing, food, and shoes • Private asylums kept people from hurting themselves and allowed them to be placed under careful supervision Adams-Nervine Asylum, 1880 The Madhouse Act (1828) and the Lunatics Act (1845) allowed for more humane treatment of the mentally ill.

8. Treatments • Early doctors used the rising mental health issue as a way to experiment with new treatments. • There was no formal training in the area for doctors, so they relied on their beliefs, ideas, and instincts about mental illness • Doctors tested their theories in asylums

9. The Rotary Chair • Patient was strapped into the chair • The chair would turn on its axis at a very high speed, creating force that caused severe discomfort, fright, and intense pressure to brain. Many patients felt nauseous and suffocated. • This treatment was used in attempt to restore the brain’s equilibrium

10. Difference in Social Class • The rich kept insane relatives in their homes or in a private asylum. • The middle class sent the insane to public asylums • The poor considered the public asylums to have better living conditions than their homes, so they kept the insane in public asylums.

11. Theories of Mental IllnessDr. Henry Maudsley (1835-1918) • Maudsley, a medical practitioner, believed that a woman’s physical and mental health were centered around balance with her reproductive system • When the system was out of balance, the woman was said to be mentally ill • Maudsley was afraid of the mentally ill getting married, he believed that the disease was hereditary and reproduction by the mentally ill created more of the mentally ill.

12. The Wondering Womb • Most medical experts of the time thought mental illness was unusual in men. They thought the disease was passed on from the mother’s womb • The idea of the Wondering Womb was that madness was associated with menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause. • The Womb was said to wander through the body, acting as a sponge that sucked energy and intellect from vulnerable women

13. Hysteria and Women • Hysteria became the general term for women with mental illness • Treatment for hysteria included bed rest, seclusion, bland food, refrain from reading, and a daily massage. • These treatments often drove women into further insanity (they couldn’t handle being confined)

14. Theories of Mental IllnessSir Alexander Morrison • Morrison was a visiting physician to Bethlehem Hospital (mental institution in England) • He believed that it is mentally healthier if people are told what to believe and are unable to evaluate their own systems of government or religion • He wrote the book Outlines of Mental Diseases • In the book, he wrote that infants, though not very susceptible to mental disease, were still able to become afflicted if they grew rapidly from birth.

15. Important Dates • 1798-Lord Chancellor appoints Secretary of Lunatics, Clerk of Custody of Idiots & Lunatics, and five Commissioners for Lunatics. • 1800-Criminal Lunatics Act designed to give safe custody to lunatics charged with criminal offenses. • 1844-Lunacy Report counts 12,000 insane paupers, some dangerous, living in workhouses or outside asylums; recommends lunatics should be cured and controlled with discipline and moral management.

16. Important Dates • 1845-The County Asylums Act obliges all insane poor to be transferred from workhouses and treated in specially built asylums. • 1845-Lunacy Act requires monitoring and regulation of all lunatic asylums. • 1886-The Idiots Act  The first law to make provision for education and training for those with mental disability rather than illness or insanity.

17. Important Dates • 1890-Lunacy Act consolidated several legal changes on mental illness. Detention of a lunatic person could only be ordered by a judge and must be limited by time; new private asylum building was restricted. • 1899-Defective and Epileptic Children Act allows all councils to make special arrangements for teaching or training mentally disabled children. • 1905-Syphilis bacteria identified. Thought to be a major cause of general paralysis of the insane, and much mental illness.