
The mentally ill went through harsh lifetimes prior to modern times. Nellie Bly helped to expose these harsh treatments of these mental patients in “Ten Days in a Mad-House”. She spent a literal 10 days in an insane asylum to expose the harsh care of the patients by the workers. Her journalism helped to spark a realization in society that reform was needed for these institutions. "The History of Mental Illness: From Skull Drills to Happy Pills" by Allison Foerschner and an excerpt from A history of mental health nursing by Peter Nolan work to provide background information to Bly’s experience in a 19th century insane asylum by showing what people’s opinion of the mentally ill at that time period and explain how these institutions were ran and how people were admitted into them.

The article “The History of Mental Illness: From Skull Drills to Happy Pills” by Allison M. Foerschner works to show the mistreatment of the mentally ill by institutions throughout time. This article provides examples of the development of mental health care while showing how the human perception of the mentally ill has changed from treating it as a sacrilegious state to a disease of the mind. Insanity was treated as a supernatural force up until the 19th century when institutions were created to house the mentally ill. These people were treated as prisoners and forced to live in harsh conditions. The care and understanding for the mentally slowly but gradually improved over human history. 

The argument that the research provides can be used to show that the mentally insane have not been treated properly throughout time and that it should not be their fault that they receive punishment for a mental illness which they cannot do anything about. This research works to explain the many wrong doings of humans against the insane. The research works to prove my opinion of the selected narrative, “Ten Days in a Mad-House” by Nellie Bly. The narrative gives examples of how poorly insane women were treated in an institution in the 1880s. These women were bullied by the nurses, fed poor quality nutrition, and given very little freedom. They were forced to live like incarcerated criminals without doing anything wrong. The narrative shows that these government institutions in the 19th century were not treating their patients morally right and only making their illnesses worse. Nellie Bly helped to expose these poor living conditions in the asylums. She most likely helped draw attention which led to the rise of the Mental Health movement led by Dorothea Dix who also experienced the inside of an insane asylum as a staff member. The historical research from “The History of Mental Illness: From Skull Drills to Happy Pills” helps to show what people considered mental illnesses to be at the time of Nellie Bly’s autobiography. The research backs up why in the 1800s the nurses in Bly’s autobiography thought of the patients as lesser beings because they did not feel any empathy for them. The nurses most likely thought the insane women were evil in a supernatural way as most people did up until recently. The article “The History of Mental Illness: From Skull Drills to Happy Pills” by Allison M. Foerschner works to support Bly’s opinion in “Ten Days in a Mad-House” by showing the mistreatment of the mentally insane in the past.

The excerpt from A history of mental health nursing by Peter Nolan helps to explain the effects the asylum’s treatment of their patients and how these places ran. The text contains a study that shows that the longer patients remained in the asylum the less chance they had of ever getting out. “In 1860, 64 patients at Prestwich were discharged within one year of their admission and, of these, 29 had stayed for less than 3 months. The total number of patients in the asylum in 1860 was 502, giving a discharge rate of 13% for that year, which remained constant throughout the decade.” (Nolan, 41-42). This goes to show that patient neglect usually made the symptoms of their ailments increase instead of helping their rehabilitation. The excerpt also explains that the upper-class, more expensive asylums had somewhat humane care but the lower-class, public institutions were very inhumane. They often would leave many patients in physical restraints or throw them in solitary confinement for acting up. The needs of the patients were put behind the sustainability and budget of the institutions.

This excerpt helps to back up Bly’s observations from her time spent in a public asylum. Bly describes a fellow patient by the name of Miss Mayard who had been given an ice cold bath when she was sick and her hair being combed so hard that her hair fell out. The research shows that this type of abuse over time tends to make the patients’ behavioral issues worse instead of better and limit their chance of ever being rehabilitated. The research helps to back up the reason why the patients weren’t the first priority and often money was for the public institutions that did not have nearly as much funding as the private institutions. And for the patients that acted out or had an uncontrollable the research helps to expose the type of punishment they would receive most likely making the patents ailments worse. 

Bly’s work helped to expose the neglect of these insane asylums that were opening up all over America and the world in the 19th century. As described in “The History of Mental Illness: From Skull Drills to Happy Pills” by Allison M. Foerschner, the people at the time had no respect for the mentally ill and most likely thought they were being affected by some supernatural force because not that much research had been done to explain the causes of mental illness. Bly was not treated as an equivalent to a normal human by the nurses due to this whether she was being forced around or being told “You can’t have it, so shut up” (Bly, 291) when asking for something as basic as a pencil and paper. Bly even goes on to recount a story about the nurses instigating a patient to have a fit and then punishing her for it. Also the patients did not enjoy the living conditions. As described in A history of mental health nursing by Peter Nolan, the public asylums were on a very small budget so the patients received the bare minimum of necessities required. Bly describes the food as being half rotten and the beds as being cold and uncomfortable. According to “Ten Days in a Mad-House”, Bly experienced harsh neglect and mistreatment for being labeled as insane and was treated as a lesser being which negatively affected a patient’s condition.
