Before I answer the problem of whether or not mental illness exists, let us look a little at the history of mental illness/Asylums. You can see for yourself quite clearly how those afflicted with this condition where treated over the years.
ASYLUM AND THE POOR LAW
Before the 19th Century those who where seen to be suffering from lunacy were locked away, in chains, and whipped. Indeed, during those times, it was thought that those suffering with lunacy where cursed by the very devil himself. The history of Licensed Houses tells us that they were not places where you would go to take a drink, but rather a place that lunatics where sent to. This was done under one of the Acts of Parliament, in England,{from 1774 onwards}, to receive lunatics. London and County Houses where licensed under different authorities
A licensed house was an asylum that was owned privately. These where also called madhouses, yet there where some publicly-owned houses that chose to be licensed also. If a house only received one patient, then they were known as single patient houses, they did not require any license at all.
In fact, the word ‘madhouse’ was used only for private asylums, yet sometimes this word would be in use as well, for hospitals and county asylums.
COUNTY ASYLUMS
All county asylums were rate funded and where provided by the County Asylum Acts, which was an Act that was passed in 1808.
It was during the Victorian era that sweeping reforms were made to the Mental Health System in England. These changes led to better living conditions for the patients and a better chance of being cured too. Before these changes during the 18th and 19th Centuries, those who were deemed to be mentally ill, had to rely on the Christian charity of others to support their needs. You see, mental illness back then was seen as some sort of spiritual problem. This problem belonged to the Church, it was because of this that people then did not bother to look for a cure for the mentally ill. In other words, it was an easy excuse to stick them away in an asylum somewhere where they would be forgotten… forever.
When the Poor Law came out, it then became the responsibility of the whole parish to look after those inflicted with this illness. Because of this, those that were mentally ill had a terrible time, people just didn’t want to take up their responsibilities for those who were struck with this condition. In other words, they could not see why they had to pay out of their own pockets for the upkeep of the mentally infirm.
It was during the mid 18th Century that the very first lunatic asylums were built and set up. These were funded by rich patrons as a charity. Obviously, the patients family had to pay a weekly fee for their relative, covering their food and stay. If a person was very poor though, they could stay for nothing. It was because of this that some asylums took advantage of those from rich families. Indeed, they would keep them within the confines of the asylum, and their families would be charged more for their stay in the asylum. Often asylums would keep the patients there indefinitely, safe in the knowledge that their rich patrons would pay for their keep there. This led to patients being kept ‘prisoner’ for no other reason then for those running the asylum to make money. There was no attempt whatsoever into finding a cure for those people within.
In cases such as the ones stated above, it was very difficult indeed for patients to claim that they had been cured. The evidence for such claims did not exist at that time. This was simply because when a person was institutionlised, no medical records needed to be kept. If the person resisted an attempt to treat him or her, this would be seen simply, as part of their madness. Proof, if you like, that they were indeed mad.
There are numerous cases of people being locked away for years within an asylum, simply because they were an inconvenience. No wonder lunatic asylums had feared reputations as being just brutal and savage prisons. People being locked in, 24 hours a day, with no hope of a cure for those that really where sick, must have been like a living hell. People with violent tendencies where often beaten up, kept in chains, starved and even had their limbs broken. All these things were seen as legitimate reasons to restrain those with a more violent disposition, in order to break them in…make them docile. In fact, those who where mentally insane had long since ceased being human beings. They were looked upon as simply beasts. They had given up on humanity and humanity had in turn given up on them.
In fact, King George the 3rd of England, he himself had been restrained, beaten and tortured, simply because he was thought off as mad, and yes, this happened when he WAS STILL the King of England. Before the 19th Century, insanity was attributed to the devil afflicting people with the madness of the mind. It was also blamed on bad air and the food people ate {bad dietary problems}. This was based on the Greek idea of how the body worked.
Everyone had four humours {blood, choler, phlegm and bile}. An excess of any of these would cause illness, according to the Greek’s philosophy at the time. The balance would be regained by ‘draining’ the body of the substance which was causing the problem. This was done by a system called, ‘purging’. This involved blood-letting, and vomiting. Other treatments would be having a hole drilled into your head {to relieve the pressure on the brain}, and also to remove excess humours. Raising blisters with hot irons was also another method they would use. Indeed, one must never mistake the squalid and filthy conditions of these asylums with uncleanliness. The people were used to what they where used to, for outside the conditions where just as bad. In other words, they were the ‘standard’.
CHANGES TO THE LAW
It is without question that part of the reason for the changes to the law was this, that put it simply, people the general public, were terrified of ending up in an asylum. Terrified of being sent to one and forgotten, forever. Some sort of law had to be brought out in order to protect the public from such a thing happening. Also, another reason was the treatment of King George the 3rd. People where rightly shocked at the thought that if even a king, could be subjected to such treatment…then what hope had they?
COMPULSORY ASYLUMS
1845 and asylums had now, by law, become compulsory. All admissions and discharges to and from asylums HAD to be written down. This was in order to protect people who were not ill, from being sent to one. Indeed, from 1828 it had become compulsory that TWO doctors had to be present in order to sign admissions forms for every single new patient. This was after they had examined the patient on different occasions.
To sum up:
You see the problem we have here with mental illness is that you cannot see it. By that I mean to the majority of the population mental illness is but a state of mind. A view that he or she will get over it – whatever it is that happens to be bothering that particular person, at that particular time. Mental illness is unlike any other sickness that we know. At least with a broken leg, you can see that the person has broken his leg, period. Or the flu which is also a physical symptom, physical in the sense because we can see it and we can relate to it.
But mental illness…that is something else completely, and it is a question that doctors – and indeed psychologists – are still trying to come to terms with. During the 1800s mental patients where locked away for hours at a time, having succumbed to the ravages of madness. Mental illness was blamed on the devil, or bad diet, or bad air. Any number of things. It was not looked on per say, as any other sickness would have been. In some respects, that is still the case today, oh, we have made huge strides in the treatment of mental patients and their welfare, since those dark and distant days of chains and torture, but we can and should do more.
Mental illness exists, now whether or not this is a sickness of the brain, some sort of brain disorder so-to-speak, that we have yet to discover, or whether it is something more, we have yet to find out. Indeed, the treatments we have now compare nowhere near to those of the past. Treatments such as, relaxation training, exposure therapy, psychotherapeutic treatments, hypnotherapy, all of these, combined with the right drugs, help alleviate, in some way, the condition of mental illness. There are many more treatments that I could mention here, but it would take far too long. Suffice to say that patients now are far far better treated, and there is a much better understanding of mental illness then at any other time in the past.
So yes mental illness does exist, and has existed for centuries. As to what are the causes of this illness, we have yet to fully understand. Even now, in the 21st Century, the workings of the human brain are still as misunderstood as ever. We know a lot more about the brain, much more then we have ever done, but it is still not fully understood. Until we make that breakthrough, then I am afraid that mental illness will always be with us, in one form or another.
