The History and Development of the Psychiatric System since the 19th Century

The History and Development of the Psychiatric System since the 19^th Century

The psychiatric system has evolved and changed and enhanced their culture and language since the 19^th Century. Many people have come up to fight for social justice and survivor citizenship and defending human rights and fighting against sanism through the building of critical communities.

One of the changes in psychiatric treatment is the treatment of the psychiatric poor according to the principles of ethical treatment. Early 19^th Century, the hopes of a successful psychiatric treatment lead to the burgeoning of mental hospitals in different countries, for example, Britain and North America. By the mid 19^th Century, psychiatrists believed that some mental illnesses, for example, schizophrenia came as a result of unconscious conflicts that result from early childhood.

Another change is the fair treatment of the psychiatric poor, unlike in the medieval period, whereby the psychiatrists were being mistreated without having done any wrong. “Mrs. Mills slammed the door in my face. She is vexed at any expression of sympathy” (p 44). The “mad people” were being treated like worthless people and without sympathy. Another example is Elizabeth Packard, whom the husband considered her as slightly insane and was taken to the hospital where she was treated so severely until she wished for death instead of being confined in the asylum hospital (P.41). Today, especially in the mental asylums in the United States, psychiatric patients are treated with dignity.

Before the 19^th Century, women were associated with insanity and hysteria, while the males were excluded from this harsh treatment as these characteristics were associated with the feminine. However, based on Mary Pengilly, Elizabeth Packard, and Hersilie Rou’s experiences, the male psychiatry has been challenged in the relation of industrialization (P. 38). Since then, mad activism has been active in protecting women from being associated with non-psychiatric related problems and unfair treatment.

REFERENCE

LeFrançois, B. A., Menzies, R., & Reaume, G. (Eds.). (2013). Mad matters: A critical reader in Canadian mad studies. Canadian Scholars’ Press.