An Incredibly Condensed History of Mental Illness

4000 years ago
The Egyptians and early Greeks saw mental and physical illness as biologically based—resulting from physical causes.

1700
Later in history the conception of the “mind” came to dominate regarding mental illness, and explanations of it centered on possessions of evil spirits, and moral weaknesses. Individuals who suffered from mental illness were not seen as ill but as flawed and were extremely persecuted.

Toward the end of the century “insanity” came to be seen as beyond the control of the individual rather than a possession or demonic. Asylums were created to treat mentally ill patients. Benjamin Rush (America’s first psychiatrist) opened the first mental asylum in America. Treatments were primitive but it was an improvement and essentially based on a medical model.

1800
Dorothea Dix, an activist, dedicated herself to improving conditions and was responsible for more than thirty hospitals built. The hospital in Raleigh that bears her name—Dorothea Dix—opened in 1856.

1936 through 1950s
Twenty thousand frontal lobotomies were performed in America.

1947
Fountain House in New York City opened providing community-based psychosocial rehabilitation.

John Umstead Hospital opened.

1940s and 1950s
New medications—anti psychotics—were discovered that greatly helped but did not cure. ECT and insulin therapies were also used to battle depression.

1960s
Conventional antipsychotic drugs like haloperidol are developed that significantly control the symptoms of psychosis.

1970
Mass deinstitutionalization began but without a lot of rehabilitation or support programs in communities.

Caramore is founded to serve as a residential and vocational rehabilitation and reintegration program for those suffering mental illness or being released from hospitals.

Managed care—short stays in hospitals with community treatment—became the standard of care for mental illness.

Today
Today there is a lot of controversy over North Carolina’s latest attempt at deinstitutionalization and the lack of community support and programs to handle patients who only stay for short periods of time in hospitals.

In addition to the lack of services and health care, the stigma of mental illness remains a painful issue. A lot of effort has been seen in equating mental and physical illnesses as biologically driven, yet the health care industry’s slow acceptance of granting parity is a lingering example of how society has been slow to see depression and psychotic disorders as similar to diabetes or heart disease.

The frightening history combined with the hard-to-grasp emotional and behavioral elements to these diseases still cause us to shy away from fully approaching them without denial or shame.

Advocacy and education are the answers. The more education that can occur dispelling myths and removing the fear and uneasiness; the more it can be shown how similar people’s experiences with the illness are—and the straight-forward nature of treatment—the better the climate will be for those seeking help. Because remember, "the best treatments for serious mental illnesses today are highly effective; between 70 and 90 percent of individuals have significant reduction of symptoms and improved quality of life with a combination of pharmacological and psychosocial treatments and supports (NAMI).”