Dorothea Dix: Insane Asylums In The 19th Century

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The 19th century has brought about insane asylums, increased research, advanced treatments, and new studies of thought. While some of these provided good to those in need; nonetheless, numerous brought more misery to the mentally ill, then they did comfort. An amazing lady, Dorothea Dix, saw the misery of those in asylums, poorhouses, and jails, and sought to expose the cruelties of their confinement (Link 10). Taking her fight to Boston, Dix found powerful allies, including Rev. William Ellrey Channing, the leader of Unitarianism that sought for social reforms (Link 11).

In 1841 Dix began traveling around Massachusetts examining the conditions those with mental illness had to live in, and found them in “cages, closets, cellars, stalls pens!
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