Dorothea+Dix+-+SP09

Dorothea Dix

//“I come to present the strong claims of suffering humanity. I come to place before the Legislature of Massachusetts the condition of the miserable, the desolate, the outcast. I come as the advocate of helpless, forgotten, insane men and women; of beings sunk to a condition from which the unconcerned world would start with real horror.”// -Dorothea Dix


 * Criticisms of American Society:**
 * People believed that:
 * those who were mentally ill "didn't fell heat or cold"
 * The insane could not be cured
 * Conditions that they were living under were enough for them
 * Restraining them and beating them would "knock sense into them"


 * Goals Hoped to Achieve:**
 * Improve the living conditions of the mentally ill
 * Treatment of the mentally ill


 * Methods Used to Improve American Life:**
 * Visited and investigated jails and almshouses across entire state of MA
 * Used her findings to put together a document that was delivered to the MA legislature
 * She won the support of the MA legislatures and funds were set aside for expansion of the Worcester State Hospital
 * Helped to show that all mental illness wasn't incurable
 * "One such is a young woman who was for years 'a raging maniac' chained in a cage and whipped to control her acts and words. She was helped by a husband and wife who agreed to take care of her in their home and slowly she recovered her senses."
 * This was an example of a curable mental illness recorded by Dix
 * She traveled to jails and almshouses in every state in America
 * Helped to found 32 mental hospitals, 15 schools for the feeble-minded, a school for the blind, and many training facilities for nurses.
 * She helped to inspire education in prisons, hospitals, and other institutions


 * Successes in Promoting the Reform**: (see above)
 * She has been called, "The most effective advocate of humanitarian reform in American mental institutions during the nineteenth century."
 * Dix inspired the creation of dozens of institutions for the mentally ill and helped to change the opinion of the majority on the mentally ill
 * Although President Pierce vetoed her bill, her ideas were spread throughout the nation


 * Practicality in Relation to the Time Period:**
 * At the time, Dix's ideas were radical. Most people believed that the mentally ill should be pushed into a corner and ignored.
 * This was a very sensitive topic and if the President did not veto the bill he would be going against the majority of people in America at the time.


 * Federal Government Support:**
 * Allow land to be set aside to be used for the care of the mentally ill
 * Provide funds for libraries in prisons and mental institutions
 * Provide funds to improve the conditions for the mentally ill in prison


 * Sources of Knowledge:**
 * She interviewed physicians about the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. She acquainted herself with the work of reformers Philipe Pinel, Benjamin Rush and William Tuke. Some accounts of Pinel's work are found in Dix's published work
 * Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, Director of the Perkins School for the Blind and himself a strong advocate for the mentally ill presented Dix's memorial in 1843 to the MA Legislature.

**Works Cited**
Bumb, Jenn. "Dorothea Dix." __Webster University__. 1 Mar. 2009 . Viney, Wayne. "Dorothea Dix." __UUA Server for Other Organizations' Web Sites__. 1 Mar. 2009 .