Disabilities and Mental Illness in the 1930s

Disabilities and Mental Illness in the 1930s Of Mice and Men background information

Hospitals • Psychiatric care was extremely limited • Very little was known about any sort of mental illness in the 1930s • Doctors prescribed sedatives to suppress patients' nervous systems, tried hydrotherapy (hot or cold baths), or tried various shock therapies meant to "shock" the illness out of the patient • Around 1 million patients were admitted into hospitals by 1940 • Conditions detoriated during the Great Depression because of lack of funding

Disabilities • Disabilities were looked down upon • There were very few regulations in place to prevent or compensate injuries received in the workplace that contributed to disability • Injuries that were compensated were done at a much lower amount than today's employers would have to pay • Anything labeled "abnormal" was typically feared or mocked by society • The League of the Physically Disabled was organized in the 1930s to fight for employment during the Great Depression.

Treatments • Mental illnesses were treated in quick, unconventional manners meant to "cure" the illness immediately versus treating it over time • Schizophrenia was treated with hydrotherapy and seizure-inducing therapy • There was a belief that patients who had epilepsy could not also have schizophrenia • May also be treated with lobotomies • Anxiety and depression were treated with lobotomies

Lobotomies • Severs the connection between the frontal lobe and the rest of the brain • Began when neurologists Dr. John Fulton and Dr. Carlyle Jacobson performed experiments on two monkeys, Becky and Lucy. • Their frontal lobes were removed, erasing their previous behavior of becoming violent and angry when they were not rewarded with treats • Fulton's work was viewed by Dr. Antonio Egas Moniz, who saw a link between the monkeys' previous behavior and that of his mentally ill patients • Moniz adjusted the surgery so that his patients would retain their intelligence • He performed the procedure on cadavers before attempting and claiming success on a live patient • Dr. Walter Freeman adjusted Moniz's technique of drilling holes in the skull to through the eye socket. He performed the first lobotomies in the United States in 1936

Rosemary Kennedy • Sister of President John F. Kennedy • Described as shy as a child, but grew into a defiant and "moody" teenager and adult • Freeman told the family he could "fix" her behavior through a lobotomy, and they agreed. • Rosemary had a lobotomy done at age 23. • The lobotomy was not successful—it left Rosemary with the mental capacity of an infant • She had to live the rest of her life in a mental instituion • Her sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics in her honor. • Like Rosemary, many who were lobotomized in the 1930s-1950s were subjected to living out their lives in a mental institution because of the procedure

Examples from Of Mice and Men • Candy is missing the entirety of his hand due to an accident on the ranch. He is paid 5 months wages in compensation, but is considered a "burden" in society because of his disability • Lennie's exact illness or disability is never specified in the book, likely because there was so little information available at the time to help diagnose it • George constantly forbids Lennie to speak, to avoid discovery of his disability, because there would be little to no sympathy or understanding of his scenario. Many would suggest or demand he be sent to a mental institution or be given a lobotomy.

Sources • https://historycooperative.org/journal/the-league-of-the-physically-handicapped-and-the-great-depression-a-case-study-in-the-new-disability-history/ • https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/lobotomy3.htm • https://www.healthyplace.com/other-info/mental-illness-overview/the-history-of-mental-illness • http://www.oxnotes.com/of-mice-and-men-context-disabled-in-1930s-america-gcse.html

Disabilities and Mental Illness in the 1930s