The theory behind mental asylums became more commonly accepted throughout this time period. The theory behind mental asylums became more commonly accepted throughout this time.  Resulting from women reporters who exposed the mistreatment of women within the asylums. Nellie Bly was a pioneer in the field of stunt journalism for women. She risked ten days inside the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island for a story. Bly faked insanity as a cover so that she could report on the occurrences within the institution. Through her reports and others, allows for readers to understand how women were mistreated. Women in asylums were wrongly diagnosed, given unsatisfactory living conditions, and physically harmed. This produced an unfit environment for them to live in and is what eventually led to the closing of many asylums. 

Women in the 19th century had to follow expectations to be what society considered a proper woman. A woman had to be obedient to her husband, following his orders, making him happy and staying loyal to him. A woman of this time was also expected to spend her time at home taking care of the children and keeping the house tidy. If a woman were to perform actions that were not accepted, she would wind up in an insane asylum (Jean, K). A woman could end up in a mental asylum as an exchange for a divorce if the woman was not obedient to her husband. Sansone writes “A woman could be quite often divorced for reasons of lunacy. Her husband would put her in the insane asylum and then file for divorce. A few months later, his marriage records to a younger bride usually showed up.” Other reasons for admission were depression, alcoholism, menopause, and differing from the norm. (Sansone, Tina). Nellie Bly referenced women in her book Ten Days in a Mad-House by describing the trials the women faced.  She specifically shares how a woman by the name of Louise Schanz spoke no English. Louise went into the asylum just because she had no chance to prove herself sane to the doctors. Bly herself got admitted after getting aske only a few questions about herself. She says “He gave the nurse more attention than he did me, and asked her six questions to every one of me. Then he wrote my fate in the book before him”. She told the doctor first hand that she was not sick and that she didn’t want to stay at the asylum. Nellie's doctors marked her as insane and she started her time as a patient in an insane asylum (Bly, Nellie). Women had no say over what their fate would be and many ended up in asylums due to unconventional reasoning. 

 In 19th century mental asylums, there was no respect for the treatment of woman.  The women within these asylums received treatment like that of caged animals. Nellie Bly describes multiple scenes of this, to the reader. The reader sees this animalistic treatment when they are eating, bathing, and even sleeping. Bly described the setting at which they ate as one where the women had to crawl over a bench to reach the table. She mentions the taste of the tea resembling that of copper. As for the bread and butter, she says it had such a horrible taste that it was inedible. Except for the few prunes she could salvage, other patients took her food or it was nearly inedible. Bly’s experience with bathing is comparable with the word cold. She tells the reader about how the nurses forced her out of her clothing. Followed by being intensely scrubbed down by another inmate. To rinse off they dumped buckets of ice cold water on her, giving her the feeling of drowning. 

 

This concluded with the reception of a slip and getting sent to bed. The sleeping quarters Nellie described as nothing more than a bed with a sheet.  An oilcloth was below her and a sheet and wool blanket above her. The bed she received was immediately dampened by her wet hair. The simple slip, as well as the pajamas, was also soaked from her previous bathing experience. Upon asking for a nightgown, the nurse told her ‘“You are in a public institution now, and you can’t expect to get anything. This is charity, and you should be thankful for what you get.”’ (Bly, Nellie). The reader is clearly shown through Bly’s descriptions that the patients received no kindness. Any care given to them with cold emotion and minimum effort. Sansone touched on this in her writing. She told readers that “The asylums usually provided only the basic necessities of life. Food was poor, cleanliness was not stressed and the rooms were often very cold”. This type of lifestyle within mental hospitals were extremely common. The superintendent of a temporary asylum in New Orleans, Louisiana claimed that inmates were “deprived of the basic care necessary for mental conditions, to say nothing of basic human needs”. The article continues to say how the superintendent reported scarcity of water. In addition to that they found beds with only one sheet and a single blanket in the coldest of weather. Even in the cold weather the patients were either nude or had on the minimal but dirty clothing. The rooms also did not meet the hygienic standards of that time period (Vandal, Gilles). These conditions were not helpful to the betterment of the mental health of the patients.  These conditions often led to the deterioration of the mental state of the occupants. This made women who were originally completely sane become mentally ill. 

Ten Days in a Mad House shows readers what occurred inside insane asylums in the 19th century. It does this through descriptions of random choking and beating of the patients. Nellie Bly gave the reader a sense of what the care takers did in the asylum from her Chapter XIII descriptions. One example is of her complaint to the superintendent of Miss Mayard’s sickness. She says “He caught her roughly between the eyebrows or thereabouts, and pinched until her face was crimson from the rush of blood to her head, and her senses returned. All day afterword she suffered from terrible headache, and from that on she grew worse” (Bly, Nellie). 

 The superintendent took no care in helping the patient through her sickness. He used quick, painful, and ineffective methods to relieve the girl of her pain.  Bly described a case of mistreatment where a woman who was picked on by the asylum’s nurses began to throw a fit. The nurses found no amusement in this, like they did when picking on her. They proceeded to “pounced upon her and slapped her face and knocked her head”. The situation escalated and the nurses began to choke the woman. Bly reported that they had even dragged her into a closet. The woman returned hours later with “marks of their fingers on her throat the rest of the day” (Bly, Nellie). In Vandal’s article, he talks about similar situations between patients and aids. He also finds similarities between patients and other patients. He mentions the normality of nocturnal fights inside asylums. Also, the threat of violence from aggressive and unrestrained patients. He claims that it was common for patients to emerge with bruises in the morning. As well as that they documented cases of murder between patients. He claims “the various influences to which the patients were subjected, instead of exercising a curative effect, transformed persons with mild mental problems into confirmed maniacs” (Vandal, Gilles). This once again shows the effect the treatment of these patients had on their mental states. Essentially, that caregivers took people of sanity and beat them down till they had no need for it. 

Examining the insane asylums for women of the 19th century can show a trend of mistreatment. This mistreatment caused for sane women to become insane. Their misdiagnosis and lack of human necessities broke the mind down into a primal like state. The need for food and warmth, but lack thereof, was wrong on the caretaker’s part.  This discovery, made by Nellie Bly after she feigned insanity, brought about women’s rights. It also helped to stop the mistreatment and common use of insane asylums. Since they duped as places to dump women who their family deemed undesirable by society. 
