
During the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century mental disorders like “Hysteria” had a rise and fall.  Since its fall, there have been no reports of the disease, leaving many to believe that the disorder was never real in the first place.  Because of this, many believe it was a tool used to control and dominate women who stepped out of the norms of their society.    This is backed up by the many faulty procedures for curing the illness, all focusing on a woman’s reproductive organs, including procedures as gruesome as removing healthy ovaries.  This disorder had its “Heroic Period” in the late nineteenth century.  Disorders like Hysteria have had reports in many other societies. For example, in England, a disorder with very similar symptoms had a vast number of reports.  This disorder was known as “The Vapors.” Women being considered “insane” or “hysteric” and the fact that an asylum could imprison them easily in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century can be linked to being treated unfairly by their society and the forced vulnerability that it impressed upon them.  The thought of being imprisoned for being so much as disobedient caused intense stress for women, as it would for anyone under the same stress, and drove many of them to end up in insane asylums.  Once society considered a woman who is speaking out of the norm of her society “hysteric” it became normal for women to be sent to these asylums.   The condition of the asylum in “Ten Days in a Mad House” proves to the reader that any normal person who is put into that environment would surely go insane.  

During this time, many women were sent to these asylums due to them being labeled insane for acts and behaviors unrelated to mental illness.  According to the book “On the ‘Disappearance’ of Hysteria” the mental disorder that caused many of these women to end up in these asylums was hysteria.   This book explains the fact that the publication of articles and books on hysteria completely halted around the 1940’s, along with the initially high reports of the victims of this disorder.  The decline in the illness correlates with women gaining better representation, and generally being taken more seriously in society.  The mistreatment of women and the denial of their rights is part of the reason why so many women were “diagnosed” with hysteria.  If any person is put under the pressure of having to constantly conform with societies norms, it would be easy for them to be pushed over the edge and seem insane.  This infringement on women’s rights is displayed in the book “Ten Days in a Mad House.”  The staff treated Nellie, and the rest of the asylum’s occupants, with very little respect, and were often physically and verbally aggressive towards their patients.  This lack of respect and caring can also be shown towards the beginning of the story when the doctor is examining Nellie.  The doctor makes the assumption that Nellie is not insane, but still raises no question as to why she is there.  

In Nancy M.Theriot’s “Women's Voices in Nineteenth-Century Medical Discourse: A Step toward Deconstructing Science,” she explains the flawed, male run medical practices of this era.  When the first reports of hysteria first began to appear, it was diagnosed in men, women, and children.  The illness then evolved to be mostly found in women.  The main symptoms of the illness were nervousness and anxiety.  Many of the doctors believed that it was caused by damaged or dysfunctional reproductive organs.  At the time, W. O. Henry, a professor of gynecology, stated “A large majority of all insane women have some pelvic disturbance as an important, if not a chief causative factor.”  There were primitive procedures that were believed help cure hysteria, such as the application of leeches as well as vicious chemicals.  A treatment that had been discussed and written about was the removal of healthy ovaries to treat the illnesses anxiety and to dissuade insane behavior.  Little emotional support is offered to those who were diagnosed with hysteria, only painful and severe treatments.  These harsh treatments were a key factor in scaring women into conforming to the role society had pocketed for them.  In this time, being a woman, it was so easy to be accused of having a mental disorder, and if they did have one, they had many painful, and usually forced treatments in their future. Though the idea of hysteria originating from women’s reproductive organs was proven to be untrue, many gynecologists still wanted to see patients with mental illnesses. 

The serious consideration and research that is required to properly treat and care for women was not granted to their mental illnesses, but was instead used as an opportunity to control women. George H. Rohe, a gynecologist from Maryland, said “so subtle and so easily disarranged by even slight external causes, that the real wonder is not that so many women are invalid, but that any are well,” in reference to women’s reproductive organs.  Though it was disproven, medical professionals still wanted to pin this illness on women’s reproductive organs.  This makes one think that the illness is developed by the chief physical separation between men and women.  It then becomes easy for society to not take women seriously, due to the possibility that they could have hysteria.  Because of this mistreatment, it would be easy for one to break down and seem insane.  Even speaking out against the misconduct would seem insane, for it’s against society’s norms. The fact that it was easy to be admitted to an asylum was enough to make women refrain from doing speaking up.  By using fear of imprisonment in these asylums, society could easily manipulate a woman’s actions and thoughts.  

The fact of women being taken less seriously can be shown in the book “Ten Days In a Mad House.”  Throughout Nellie’s stay in the asylum, all the doctors consider the occupants “insane,” so even if what they are saying something that was sane, it was often disregarded as nonsense.  Many of the doctors appeared to completely ignore the patents of the asylum, investing themselves only in their jobs and themselves.  This can be seen explicitly in chapter six, “in the bath,” when the workers stripped off all her clothes, despite her protests against it.  They then threw her in a freezing bath tub, and let one of the asylum’s occupants scrub her against her will.  The awful condition of the bathing room shows how the founders of the asylum do not actually care about the comfort or the basic human rights of the occupants, but just the fact that they have them trapped.   The apathy the workers have for the people being forced into these conditions is shocking as well.  This denial of rights make the occupants feel sub-human, which would only worsen their mental conditions. 

Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth century many women have had to endure severely diminished human rights in comparison to their male counterparts.  Due to these diminished rights, many women could be put into insane asylums with little reason other than they are breaking the norms of society.   This caused many women extreme stress and forced them to accept where they were placed in life in fear of being sent to a mental institution.  A person is easy to control if they have the thought of these horrific institutions in their minds, as well as the knowledge of how they could be sent to one very easily.  This kind of control was prominent until the mid-twentieth century, around the time reports of hysteria became non-existent.  During this time, human rights began to rise through a crooked society, and this kind of treatment was no longer allowed to happen so openly.  Due to hysteria being the main cause of people going to mad houses, the occupants fell parallel with the reporting.  Though this was a step in the right direction for women’s rights, society still has many aspects of itself to improve before women’s rights are equal to men’s rights.  
