Dorothea Dix - “I come to present the strong claims of suffering humanity."

Did you know that 1 in 4 people experience a mental health problem of some kind each year in England? The overall number of people reporting mental health problems has been going up in recent years. The amount of people with common mental health problems went up by 20% between 1993 to 2014 and things have got even worse because of the pandemic. Record numbers of children and adults sought NHS help last year for problems such as anxiety, depression and eating disorders, or because they ended up in a mental health crisis. Andy Bell, deputy chief executive of the Centre for Mental Health said: “There is a rising tide of poor mental health resulting from people’s traumatic experiences of the virus itself, of isolation and exposure to abuse, of loss and bereavement, and of financial insecurity and job loss.”

Fortunately, awareness of mental health conditions has also increased in recent years thanks to Prince William and Prince Harry’s campaign Heads Together, organisations such as CALM and Mind, and public figures including Stephen Fry and Lady Gaga sharing their stories. All of this has helped reduce social stigma originating from historical beliefs that mental health problems were not treatable conditions but a sign of madness, deserving imprisonment in horrific conditions.

The mental asylum was the historical equivalent of the modern psychiatric hospital. Before asylums, people with mental illness or learning disabilities were either cared for by their families or ended up destitute. By the 1700s there were some private institutions where wealthy families could send their ‘mad’ relatives to be discreetly cared for. The poor often ended up in workhouses or prisons, but some local parishes provided charity-funded asylums. The conditions in asylums were often squalid and inhumane. The subject of my eighth blog post, Dorothea Lynde Dix, was a vocal critic of cruel practices such as caging, incarceration without clothing, and painful physical restraint. Her efforts on behalf of the mentally ill and prisoners helped create dozens of new institutions across the United States and helped changed people’s perceptions of how they should be treated.

Dorothea Dix was born in Hampden, Maine in 1802. Little is known about her childhood but it was not a happy one. As an adult, when asked out about childhood, Dorothea often responded with “I never knew a childhood." Her father Joseph was a Methodist preacher who was frequently away from home, and her mother suffered from debilitating bouts of depression. The oldest of three children, Dorothea effectively ran the household and cared for her family members from a very young age. Joseph Dix, though a strict and volatile man prone to alcoholism and depression, taught his daughter to read and write, fostering Dorothea’s lifelong love of books and learning.

At 12 Dorothea moved to Boston, where her wealthy grandmother took her in and encouraged her interest in education. By age 14 Dorothea was teaching in a school for young girls in Worcester, Massachusetts, employing a curriculum of her own devising that stressed the natural sciences and the responsibilities of ethical living. In 1821 she opened a school for girls in Boston and in 1824 she published a small book of facts for teachers that proved extremely popular.

Dorothea frequently suffered from bouts of illness and by 1836 her demanding workload had taken its toll and she was forced to end her teaching career. Biographer David Gollaher has suggested that she suffered from depression at several times during her life, and that she experienced a type of mental breakdown during this period. One of her doctors suggested she spend some time in Europe so Dorothea convalesced in England at the home of politician and reformer William Rathbone. During her year-long stay, she met prison reformer Elizabeth Fry, and Samuel Tuke, founder of the York Retreat for the mentally ill.

Dorothea returned to Boston in 1837, just after the death of her grandmother. The inheritance she received meant she could devote herself to reform and charitable work. In 1841, Dorothea volunteered to teach Sunday school classes to female convicts in East Cambridge Jail. During her visits she saw people with mental illnesses being neglected and treated inhumanely, which made her determined to improve conditions. She began to investigate the treatment of the mentally ill in Massachusetts, and in 1843 submitted her first “memorial” to the state legislature for a male representative to read aloud. It was one of the limited ways in which she could participate in politics since women were barred from voting, could not hold office, and could not present such testimonials themselves before the legislature.

Dorothea’s lobbying was successful in increasing the budget for the State Mental Hospital at Worcester, but Dorothea wasn’t content with achieving reforms in Massachusetts alone. She toured the country documenting the conditions and treatment of patients, campaigning to establish humane asylums for the mentally ill and founding or adding additions to hospitals in Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Maryland, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina. Dorothea also lobbied at the federal level, and in 1848 she asked Congress to grant more than 12 million acres of land as a public endowment to be used for the benefit of the mentally ill as well as the blind and deaf. Both houses of Congress approved the bill, but in 1854 it was vetoed by President Franklin Pierce.

Discouraged by the setback, Dorothea went to Europe. She discovered enormous disparity between public and private hospitals, and great differences among countries. She recommended reforms in many nations, and even met with Pope Pius IX, who personally ordered construction of a new hospital for the mentally ill after hearing her report.

When the Civil War started, Dorothea dedicated herself to the Union cause. She was designated as the Superintendent of Army Nurses for the Union Army. She was the first woman to serve in such a high capacity in a federally appointed role. Although many believed she set impossibly high standards for recruited nurses, the army of nurses was extremely successful and crucial in advancing the role of nurses in the war and in the medical field. Dorothea was also known for treating both Confederate and Union soldiers, a practice which gained her respect from many. During a period when male doctors openly expressed disdain for female nurses, Dorothea continued to push for formal training and more opportunities for women nurses.

After the war, Dorothea raised funds for the building of a national monument to honour deceased soldiers, which stands at Fort Monroe, Virginia today. She continued fighting for social reform throughout her life. Her work in support of better care for the mentally ill culminated in the restructuring of many hospitals both in the United States and abroad. After suffering from illness, Dorothea returned to New Jersey where she spent the remainder of her life in a specially designed suite in the New Jersey State Hospital. She died on July 17, 1887 and is buried in Cambridge Massachusetts.

Bibliography

Biography.com editors. ‘Dorothea Dix Biography.’ Biography.com. 2021. https://www.biography.com/activist/dorothea-dix [Accessed 4 June 2021].

Campbell, Dennis. “Extent of mental health crisis in England at ‘terrifying’ level.” The Guardian.2021. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/09/extent-of-mental-health-crisis-in-england-at-terrifying-level [Accessed 5 June 2021]

Encyclopaedia Britannica editors. “Dorothea Dix - American social reformer.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dorothea-Dix. [Accessed 4 June 2021].

History.com Editors. “Dorothea Lynde Dix.” History.com. 2018. https://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/dorothea-lynde-dix. [Accessed 4 June 2021]

Mind Website Editors. “Mental health facts and statistics.” Mind. 2020.

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/statistics-and-facts-about-mental-health/how-common-are-mental-health-problems [Accessed 5 June 2021]

Norwood, Arlisha. “Dorothea Dix, 1802-1887.” National Women’s History Museum. 2017. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/dorothea-dix [Accessed 28 May 2021].

Parry, Manon. “Dorothea Dix (1802–1887).” American Journal of public Health. 2006. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470530/ [Accessed 28 May 2021]

Science Museum Website Editors. “A Victorian Mental Asylum. 2018. https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/medicine/victorian-mental-asylum [Accessed 8 June 2021]