
In Ten Days in a Madhouse, Nelly Bly was trying to bring to light the awful living conditions in 19th century insane asylums as well as going against the negative views of women during this period in order to establish herself as a real journalist. Using supporting articles relating to the 19th century we can support the claims made in this story that the patients that were living in insane asylums were treating poorly, women were thought of as people who stayed and took care of the home and children as well as not being qualified to do the same jobs as men and the fact that those who were insane were seen as dangerous and a threat to public safety.

In the 19th century as people began being admitted to insane asylums for the first time ever many people were oblivious to the fact that people were being abused and treated as subhuman in these institutions. This included things such as the patients being confined to straitjackets, tied to ropes, strangled, and beaten by the doctors and psychiatrists that were there to “help” them. Along with this is they ever tried to speak up or fight back then they were further punished and kept at the asylum for longer because they believed that resistance to institutional practices was deemed as insanity even if you did something such as trip over something while in a straitjacket. This is supported in Bly’s experience in the asylum where she wrote “She grew more hysterical every moment until they pounced upon her and slapped her face and knocked her head in a lively fashion. This made the poor creature cry the more, and so they choked her. Yes, actually choked her. Then they dragged her out to the closet, and I heard her terrified cries hush into smothered ones” (Bly 297). This shows the credibility of Bly’s story as well as providing a frightening example of just how awfully these people were treated in these asylums. Along with the physical abuse, there was also many examples of medical abuse present in these asylums. This was done through medication that the inmates were sometimes forced to take at inconsistent intervals and without their consent. This medication usually would not help the patients and only helped to further their feeling of helplessness and dependence on the asylum workers as the assistants even speak for the patients when the doctor is doing their rounds. Lastly, the patients suffered from legal abuse. The law said that the people were institutionalized in these asylums in order to protect themselves and others, however, what it really ends up doing is forcing these people to live in these asylums where they can be abused because they have lost all their rights and their power once they are admitted. All of these forms of abuse are present throughout both Nellie Bly’s Ten Days in a Madhouse and multiple articles in which they discuss the living conditions of the asylums and the treatment of the patients.

Part of the reason for why the people who were living in these asylums were treated so poorly was due to the negative view of the insane during the 19th century. During this time people who were insane were seen as being dangerous as a result of improper external conditions that made them “immoral”. This was furthered by the fact that insanity was caused by brain damage as the brain’s soft surface could easily be damaged by outward influence. This was seen as a major medical issue and is why their treatment was placed under the authorization of psychiatrists and doctors who it was believed could help them. While there may have been some truth to this, those who worked in the public institutions were under payed and often did not really care for about the patients whereas the rich would just pay large sums of money in order to stay in private institutions where they were treated much better. This also shows that often times people may not have been insane but were admitted to these public asylums against their will and were then held there until they were actually insane or mentally ill due to the abuse and poor treatment they received in those asylums. This sort of blind faith in the asylums was a major component of how the psychiatrists gained control over the insane which can be seen in the quote “the rise of the psychiatric profession is a telling illustration of the maxim that if you repeat something often enough, however implausible it may be, people will begin to believe it” (Scull 284). This provides insight into how people could be wrongly accused of being insane or even be pushed until the point where they think they are insane just because other people were showing such undisputed faith in the psychiatrists and their system of asylums as well as people being so quick to turn a blind eye to the terrible treatments that these people were receiving. Along with this it shows a frightening example of how these people who were imprisoned in these asylums were successfully kept there and almost never would anyone try to free them because they were so faithful to these incorrect views insanity and blind to the poor treatment that these people received.

Another point which Bly was trying to show through writing this story was that women were often treated as if they were inferior to men during this time. This is due to the fact that women were thought of as morally superior to men but physically weaker which made them perfect for a domestic lifestyle of housekeeping and taking care of the children and this influence over the home is also used as the justification for why they were not allowed to vote. This stereotyping of women and forcing them into this role caused many to be upset and try to break free from it. However, this is what caused many women to end up being forced into these insane asylums because they tried to voice a new opinion, especially if it was one relating to religion. If women were poor, then they were forced into the poor quality public asylums where the gender ratio was about equal and they would spend a long time there. On the other hand, if the woman was wealthy then they would be able to go to an expensive private asylum which was essentially a personal hospital in a person’s house. While there they were essentially brainwashed into accepting that their motherly, domestic role before they could leave. Usually these women were admitted into the asylums because it was thought that otherwise they might corrupt their children or community with their dangerous ideas. This helps to better understand how it was so easy for Bly to become admitted to a hospital as well as supporting the fact that she was staying there with many women who seemed perfectly sane but have done something or voiced an opinion that their community did not approve of and caused them to be sent there. However, despite all the Nellie had going against her, she still managed to survive being imprisoned in one of the insane asylums as well as posting her experiences for everyone to see which exposed the terrible conditions as well as establishing herself as a real journalist, breaking the gender barrier and leading the way for a reform of the asylum system as a whole.

During the 19th century insane asylums began to rise up as the go to method to cure or treat someone who was diagnosed as insane. This was a low point in the history of medicine because those diagnosed as insane were thought of as dangerous to their own communities and as such were treated like animals when they were admitted to these institutions. Along with this, women were being repressed as well and were forced into a sort of domestic housekeeper role and thought of as being below men. In Nellie Bly’s Ten Days in a Madhouse she not only gave real life support to the claims that the insane were thought of as a danger and were treated very poorly but also dispelled the thoughts that women were inferior to men by establishing herself as a real journalist and breaking the gender barrier.
