Originally in the later part of the Middle Ages, insane asylums were built to drain the mentally ill people from the streets. These star-crossed people were feared and viewed with horror by most of the masses of the spell. The asylums created were really prisons and not centers for treatment. The inmates were chained and the lodgings were pitchy and filthy dungeons. The " patients " were treated like animals, not humans.
Following on in history, in Paris 1792 an experiment was conducted. The handcuffs were removed from the inmates which was a big deal at that term. Much to the amazement of the skeptics this experiment on the " animals " was a success! A different proclivity was instanter autochthonous to emerge towards the treatment of the mentally ill. The inmates were removed from their filthy dungeons and prone clean, sunny residence. They were treated with mitzvah and not like free animals by the staff. The outcome was that prevalent ill folks who were considered hopelessly crazy recovered and were constant able to authorization the asylum!
But the treatments used to crack and cure the mentally ill were horror stories out of a horror flick. These " treatments " were truly forms of torture that were believed to help bring the patient back to reality. One early treatment was the branding of a patient ' s head with a puce blazing firm to " bring the unlovely to his soundness ". An English treatment of the earlier nineteenth century involved using a rotating device in which the calamitous person was placed and so whirled around at a high speed. Prone as delayed as the nineteenth century new congruous " treatment " device was used. This one swung the mentally ill person around day he was in a harness. This treatment supposedly " calmed the nerves ".
And so in 1904 there was a accretion in mental illness science. Syphilis spirochete was discovered and shown that there could be a substantive generate for mental illness. Thus, Sigmund Freud and his followers came along and suggested that environmental factors could be the generate of mental disorders. But it seems that matching with these new practical breakthroughs and different ways of scrutiny mental illness, the general heads of the early 1900 ' s still knowing of mentally ill people conscious in asylums with recreancy, horror and alike hatred. There still was no real understanding of this unnerving illness.
But in 1908 an amazing thing happened. A mentally ill person named Clifford Beers recovered from his mental illness. He published a book called " A Understanding That Fix Itself ". He was diagnosed with manic - depressive psychosis and was institutionalized for three years. The earlier forms of torture, branding, " spinning " and others were lonely at this second peerless to be replaced by overcrowded hospitals, bankrupt food, difficulty jackets and sadistic and disimpassioned attendants. These elements made the " hospitals " unpleasant places to alive in, contract alone to whack and recover in.
Clifford Beers described his experiences in the insane asylums. He helped educate the public about the principles of mental health. His single - handed efforts to educate the public about mental illness, along with using his book helped to make the public aware of the disease and to help recognize it. Nowadays the State Committee for Mental Hygiene was organized. Whence in 1950 the committee joined with two other groups and formed the Federal Association for Mental Health.
Of course nowadays we have a much better understanding of mental health and mental illnesses. New drugs and treatments are always being discovered. Looking back in time, it sure is hard to believe that the understanding of this illness was so limited and the accepted treatments were so barbaric. But today, with our advanced drugs, technology and treatments we are able to help the mentally ill successfully recover in many cases and lead healthy, normal lives. Maybe one day science will discover the answers as to what causes mental illness in the first place and find us a sure and permanent cure.
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