The turn of the 19th century to the 20th century was a big change for all members of the American society. This time brought the era of industrialization, wealth, and all new social standards. Change can be good, but for some it can be bad. The hardest hit people of society at this time were the women. Women during this time were now attending College and getting a formal education. Even with this, they were expected to stay at home and provide for the family and household. The things that changed in the late 19th century to 20th century was the first time that women were openly sexually. They no longer saw themselves as caretakers and mothers, but as sexual people. With this new mind set, but still being looked at as only caretakers, it causes a lot of stress on women. Through the understanding of Women of the Asylum: Voices behind the Walls, and The Hysterical Women: Sex Roles and Role Conflict in the 19th Century America, it allows for a better understanding of Nellie Bly’s piece Ten days in a Mad-House. The understanding that is gained form these works is that women in society found a new way to express themselves, being viewed as insane by men thus being sent to the asylums where they truly went insane. 

The late 19th and 20th century brought with it a new generation of women. They were more independent, and more self-involved than the generation of women who came before them. Women at this time “were the first generation of women who were openly sexual and who saw themselves not just as mothers and nurturers but also as sexual beings.” (Geller 171) This was not only new for women, but for the rest of society as well. Even with college educations and the ability to have a job outside of the house, men still viewed women as less than them. This was still a patriarchal society with women being inferior. Men believed that all a women should still be is a house wife. All they should be able to do in life is to cook, clean, and raise and take care of the family while the man worked. The man was the monetary provider for the family, while the women was the emotion supporter. This split style of thinking put a lot of stress on women causing them to act out against their husbands. In a new found society, they had a way to express themselves, but in actuality they could not. What they feared was retaliation from their husbands. These new ideas scared many men, and they did not know what to do. They began to view their wives as crazy and or insane. This caused many men to tell people their wife was insane and have her sent to an asylum. Many women did not even know what their husband had done until it was too late. “Poor women, they had no hopes of a speedy delivery. They were being driven to a prison, through no fault of their own, in all probability for life” (Bly 281.) This caused them to have no time to prepare for what was to come. Causing them to have mental breakdowns as it was such a major surprise. This was the first act that led to them becoming truly insane. 

Once in the asylums, this is where women began to actually become crazy. As soon as the women got to the asylum, any rights they had were stripped from their possession. They were now under the care of the doctors and nurses. In Women of the Asylums, a firsthand account by Alice Russell shows just what went on. Russell states “Upon arriving at the asylum I was put to bed for three days, as I was perfectly well I refused to take the medicine furnished me.” (Geller 198) This was just one of the many things that doctors did to the women at first. A common belief at the time was that insanity could be cured with rest. If anything, this hurt the women because it made them restless by being kept in a bed for days upon days, not being allowed to do anything. Mental illnesses at this time in history were still a mystery. There had not been enough studies, and the technology had yet to be invented in order to understand them. This lead doctors who had no idea on how to treat them, leading to some treatments being worse than others on the patient. In turn, some women refused to eat, and as Alice saw, doctors sometimes “inserted a tube into their throats through which food was forced.” (Geller 198) In Ten Days in a Madhouse, Bly saw others forms of treatment like the ice bath. “The water was ice-cold, and I began to protest. How useless it all was! I begged, at least, that the patients be made to go away, but I was ordered to shut up.” (Bly 286) Having all rights taken away, being told what to do, and having days were they did not eat, all took major tolls on the women both physically and mental who were in the asylums. Over time, their mental mindset began to fade and they were losing the last thing they had which was hope of one day having freedom. In the asylums, they were under more stress then there were outside, trying to take care of their families and themselves. With that being said, this is the point in time were women began to become insane, and hysteria began to set in as well. 

Hysteria was a disorder that spread through the asylums quickly once the women lost their hope. Hysteria is “a widespread significant disease, it remains to this day a frustration and ever-changing illness.” (Smith-Rosenberg 652) The reason it is hard to understand even to this day is because different people act differently with hysteria. It causes people to have uncontrollable emotions which is mainly caused by stress. The stress that was experienced by the women in the asylums was more than enough to bring the onset of this disease, or disorder to thousands of women. In this time period hysteria was a new found disorder, which lead doctors to have no idea in how to treat it. This was another cause to the treatment the women faced in their day to day lives. The doctors seemed to be threatened by the fact of the hysteria because these women “did not function as women were expect to function.” (Smith-Rosenber 663) The doctors feared that hysteria may not even be a disease at all, but the way the women acted could be in part due to how they were being treated by their doctors and nurses. The doctors and nurses were not oblivious to their actions. They knew that the treatment they were giving was cruel and unfair, but for some reason the continued with these treatments.  The onset of hysteria was a slow process. This was mainly because it took a long time for the harsh effects of the treatments to get to the women. Many held on to the hope of one day getting out. It was once this hope was lost when the hysteria kicked in.  “Insane? Yes, insane; and as I watched the insanitary slowly creep over the mind that had appeared to be all right I secretly cursed the doctors, the nurses and all public institutions.” (Bly 295) As Bly saw in her firsthand account, a women that was once perfectly normal, but had been in the asylum for a while had become insane. After such poor treatment and abuse, women began to lose what little hope they had. As this happened, they began to show “deeply felt emotions, fear, shock, marital disappointment caused by physical trauma.” (Smith-Rosenberg 661) An example of this can be found in Bly’s firsthand account. From the harsh treatment by the nurses and doctors, Bly saw firsthand how Miss Mayard became Insane. The treatments caused her to suffer form “terrible headaches” (Bly 295) which over time caused her to lose her hope. By having the mood swings, and the marital disappointment, this caused the patients of the asylums to be viewed as insane. These doctors were preforming treatments, and nothing seemed to work. To some, it only made them act crazier because at this point they had nothing to lose. 

Having a background understanding of the treatments faced by women in the asylums based on the works Women of the Asylum: Voices behind the Walls and The Hysterical Woman: Sex Roles and Role Conflict in 19th Century American, allows for a better understanding of Nellie Bly’s Ten Days in a Mad-House. In a society ruled by men, it was difficult for women to voice and show their new sexually found identity. When they did voice it, men felt uncomfortable and felt that women were not acting the way they should. A women should be in the house, not having a say in society. They were then sent to the asylums for the insane. It was in these women asylums across the United States, that extremely harsh and unbearable treatments of women caused them to become insane. Hysteria was one of the main causes, leading women to have emotion break downs, and a lost any sense of hope. This was what made them be looked at as being insane. Many women felt as though they had nothing left to live for. They were going to subjected to harsh treatments like feeding tubes and ice baths. Or they had no choice but to lose their minds. It was not until the late 20th century that many of the women asylums were shut down. As time went on, treatment got better as doctors understanding of such disorders as hysteria got better, still it was a time of harsh, wrongful treatment for the women who were put in the asylums. Many when in as sane, good hearted women, but came out insane.
