Although her name is not well known, it is worth knowing some aspects of this important woman, Dorothea Dix (1802-1887) did not have a happy childhood, she was born into an American family, raised by a father with alcohol problems and a mother with serious psychological disorders, it is her difficult life context that has made her develop a great sensitivity to the most disadvantaged people and with problems of social integration , being the founder of the so-called mental hygiene movement.
At the age of 39 she volunteered in a prison for women with mental health problems, which marked the beginning of this trend, her main idea was the generalization of decent psychological treatment for all people, including the homeless. and subsequently they were instrumental in the implementation of known moral therapy and for changing the health conditions of the centres where the mentally ill lived.
- In the early 18th century.
- People with signs of serious mental disorders were described as “dumb”: for no reason or judgment.
- They were treated as wild animals to be vaccinated and caged in an asylum.
- Often intimidated and despised.
- The conditions in which these people live were inhumane.
- As were the treatment they received for their condition: starvation.
- Isolation.
- Administration of various chemicals and violent actions.
One of the factors that helped change this belief was the treatment of George III. Known as the “mad king”, the monarch had porphyria: a disease that doctors decided to treat with a very curious method, ingesting large amounts of donkey milk. This procedure has led people to develop a sense of hope, even in the early years, about the possibility of therapeutic interventions in patients with mental health problems.
Gradually a psychosocial approach to mental disorders has been developed, and it was in the first half of the eighteenth century, in a context of the need for recognition of individual rights, that the technique known as moral therapy was born.
This term was associated with him? And the “psychological”, and very related to the existence and need to comply with a code of conduct. Some of its basic principles were the treatment of the hospitalized patient in a natural and respectful way, facilitating contact and interpersonal interaction, as well as individualized care.
This radically breaks with the once dominant idea of isolation and deprivation of liberty, on the contrary, it embraced humanity, individualization and careful culture of social relations, in fact, it is the emergence of moral therapy in Europe and the United States that turns psychiatric institutions or asylums into habitable places for patient healing.
After the first half of the 19th century, this therapeutic perspective decayed due to a sharp increase in the number of patients who attended these institutions, this increase had a double cause. On the one hand, the increase in the arrival of immigrants due to the American Civil War; on the other hand, the mental hygiene movement of Dorothea Dix, whose direct and involuntary consequence was an uncontrolled growth of newcomers to the hospital system.
When Dorothea arrived in England he became ill with the lungs, during his illness he came into contact with several theorists who helped him learn theories about patient care, including moral therapy, the contrast between life in solitude and life in society, the elimination of physical patient restrictions and occupational therapy for them.
In addition, during a voluntary visit to a women’s prison, she was able to see the deplorable conditions in which the detainees lived, she was so moved that she decided to get as involved as much as possible, since then she has visited all kinds of prisons and correctional centers in order to learn in depth about the mistreatment of people in this situation and how she could change that. Since then, his first mental hygiene movement has tried to eliminate all kinds of social prejudices and sponsored the struggle for human dignity.
He was able to gather sufficient evidence to file a legal challenge with the responsible agencies in Massachusetts so that he could change these terrible conditions of unhealthiness and ill-treatment of the mentally ill. His book, “Observations on Prisons and Prison Discipline in the United States, published in 1845, contributed to the creation of psychiatric hospitals in eleven states of his country.
Dorothea Dix may not have been one of the most famous female figures in history, but she has undoubtedly contributed to humanity with her tireless dedication to giving an ethical and moral aspect to psychic therapies applied to the mentally ill.
Perhaps without his work, the deplorable treatment given to these patients would still exist for decades, so he is known, along with others who have also supported this institutional reform, as one of the benchmarks of a new era in the intervention and treatment of people with mental disorders.