Mental Illness in the 19th Century

From the article, Mental Illness in the 19th Century by Carrie Hughes tought me about what happened in the 19th century to people with mental illnesses. People blamed mental illness on witchcraft and demonic possession. They would be imprisoned, sent to alms houses, or remained untreated at home. Dorothea Dix wanted a humane treatment-based care after seeing what the mental illness people go through. “Moral treatment” was a prevalent school of treatment in the United States. At first people didnt didnt care much about mental illness and didnt want to be around the people that had it, but later on people wanted to discover a way to cure it.