Hello Everyone, Today will be talking about Mental Illness, now these cards in particular from the other cards are in two parts and there others in the different categories of the cards too ones i have found with the Great Depression and Women at Work, however i wouldn't do a lot of the two parts because i really don't know how many parts about the topic there are but from i see the Mental Illness cards are only 2 and since i have those two cards I'll do them, and this topic should also be important very Important, as we all deal with it at some point in our lives, sometimes we're stuck with it for our whole life and luckily with help and talking to others who can help and therapists we have a chance to overcome this, however people back in the day who were Mentally Ill didn't had it all well, in fact the general public from pictures scored these types people and the treatment was beyond worse, so let's not sit around and dive into Part 1 from the Daily life section in Story of America Cards.

(What is Mental Illness?)

Mental health, is encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences cognition, perception, and behavior. It also determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental health includes subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, intergenerational dependence, and self-actualization of one's intellectual and emotional potential, among others, From the perspectives of positive psychology or holism, mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and to create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience. Cultural differences, subjective assessments, and competing professional theories all affect how one defines "mental health".

(The Colonial Snake Pits)

Colonial Americans feared and avoided the insane and considered them incurable or perhaps victims (or practitioners) of witchcraft.

As a result most mentally ill persons were brought to official attention only if they actually posed danger to others or were a public nuisance, Even those who could afford home care were often chained in cellars or outhouses (Yes an Outhouse aka outdoor toilet), when they became violent or troublesome, If there care was forced upon on town officials.

The insane were often chained in a small cabin (kept at town expense) by those bid lowest to care for them, such as persons frequently supplemented their fees by charging admission so others could be amused by the insane person's peculiar behavior---perhaps prodding and goading them with sticks for optimum effect.

In populated areas, where jails and almshouses were available, the insane were often thrown into dank cellars where untrained attendants kept them in heavy chains and quited them with beatings, (Jeez this is just getting worse the more we go down).

The inhuman treatment continued long after experiments prved that insanity was an illness that could respond to treatment, The Philadelphia Quakers, under the leadership of Benjamin Rush (1745-1813), were among the first to take in mentally ill patients in 1783, Next, hospitals with new methods of humane treatment were opened and headed by medical superintendents, Among these institutions was the asylum at Worcester, Massachusetts (1830), (OH HEY!, I'm from Worcester MA, But off topic).

Whose inmates were, thanks to the efforts of men like Horace Mann, declared wards of the state, Treatment methods included work programs, music therapy and phrenology (study of the shape of the skull), When Amariah Brightam became a medical director of the asylum at Utica, New York, he set up a work program for inmates, including a paint shop where he began publishing his American Journal of Psychiatry in 1844, it remains a respected journal today.

Still, despite this early interest in the cause of and care for mental illness, the problem grew, The few state asylums in existence became overcrowded and a conservative public reaction began to question the curability of Mental Illness, It was into negative climate that Dorothea Dix unwittingly stepped in 1841 by venturing into the East Cambridge, Massachusetts, jail to teach Sunday school.

What she witnessed there among the inmates left her appalled, and her subsequent reports helped improve the vile conditions to which the mentally ill were subjected.

(Mental Health in Different Societies and Cultures)

Now Different societies or cultures, even different individuals in a subculture, can disagree as to what constitutes optimal versus pathological biological and psychological functioning. Research has demonstrated that cultures vary in the relative importance placed on, for example, happiness, autonomy, or social relationships for pleasure. Likewise, the fact that a behavior pattern is valued, accepted, encouraged, or even statistically normative in a culture does not necessarily mean that it is conducive to optimal psychological functioning.

People in all cultures find some behaviors bizarre or even incomprehensible. But just what they feel is bizarre or incomprehensible is ambiguous and subjective. These differences in determination can become highly contentious. The process by which conditions and difficulties come to be defined and treated as medical conditions and problems, and thus come under the authority of doctors and other health professionals, is known as medicalization or pathologization.

(Ending)

And that's for Part 1 of The Mentally Ill be sure to look out for Part 2, because hopefully Part 2 is much better than how the beginning of Part 1 started, so see ya later.