In the midst of the male-dominated society, Nellie Bly set out to expose the long-term issues of the treatment of the mentally ill. In 1887 Bly’s first book, Ten Days in a Madhouse, was published. This autobiography reveals the inhumane and neglectful treatment of patients in the Blackwell’s Island Insane Asylum, where Nellie pretended to be insane. Here, she witnessed and experience horrifying events that truly exposed the issues of treatment in the late 19th century. During this Victorian time frame, the mentally ill were viewed as problems that needed to be taken care of rather than actual people with medical issues. Along with this, treatment was not aimed at helping individuals, but rather used to subdue fits of madness. People, especially women, could be institutionalized simply because a man did not agree with their individuality, or a medical issue could be viewed as insanity. Overall Ten Days in a Madhouse helps to understand the culture in which it was created by showing the lack of control women had, the view of the insane as a problem, and the inadequate treatment strategies of mental illness.

One of the largest issues which Bly’s book helps the reader to understand is the utter lack of power which women possessed during this time. In the story she discusses many examples from her own experience in the asylum, that show the extent of this inequality. Upon first arriving to Blackwell’s Island, Nellie and the other women had a chance to plead their case to Dr. Kinier. The doctor spent more time flirting with a nurse than listening to the women and continued to deem them all insane without hearing them speak. One woman, Louise Schanz, couldn’t even speak English yet was given no chance to prove her sanity or even be heard. Nellie contrasts this injustice to a criminal who is given a trial to prove his innocence, yet these women were given no chance of escape. She also met a sane woman, who was sent to the asylum by her husband for making him jealous. Throughout the rest of the story, further complaints about injustice, the cold, hunger or illness were ignored or even silenced through force. These examples shed light on the male dominated society of the time. In many instances, men could place daughters, wives or friends into insane asylums for simply acting against social norms (Pouba). Symptoms of insanity that validated admission, often gave no proof that a woman had any sort of mental illness. Examples of these were “religious excitement”, or “menstrual suppression”, both of which showed women going against the grain of society (Pouba). A common term, “Hysteria”, was applied to a wide variety of actions, from actual mental breaks to simple domestic disobedience to a man (History of Mental Health Treatment). These terms were used to control women by stating that they were mentally unstable.

By showing the true nature of women in the madhouse, Nellie Bly helps to explain the culture in which she lived. Though she went into Blackwell knowing she would soon go home, she met many sane women who had almost no hope of ever being set free. When she described how the women were not even granted the opportunity to defend their sanity, she shows how easily it was for a sane woman to be admitted against her will. In her society a woman could be admitted under false pretenses by a man, and then ignored when trying to defend herself to another man. Nearly all power was possessed by the opposite gender, stripping these women of any control over their lives. Once in the asylum, she showed how this lack of a voice made each women into a helpless and hopeless animal. Sane or not, each woman in the asylum was denied basic essentials such as edible food, warmth, or even the right to improve their situation. These issues extended to the whole of society, as men dictated what a woman could or could not think, say or do. In her society, women either conformed or were silenced. This oppressive treatment of women in the late 19th century was greatly shown in Bly’s book.

Another prevalent issue plaguing the country was the view of mentally ill people as almost inhuman problems. In Nellie’s time period and dating much before her, people with mental illnesses were viewed with fear, disgust, or illegitimacy. She wrote in Ten Days in a Madhouse about how horribly these people were treated after being confined to the prison- like asylum. Every window in the building was barred shut, and the inhabitants were treated as animals. One of the nurses even told Nellie “you don’t need to expect any kindness here, for you won’t get it” (Bly). Through her account of her experience she depicted the women blue with cold, eating terrible food and being beat if they disobeyed. Though the term asylum means protection or shelter, the asylum’s in Bly’s time acted more as a means to exile the problem of the mentally ill, than to shelter sick individuals. Often during this era, the insane, men and women, were chained to their beds, drugged and neglected in these facilities (History of Mental Health Treatment). These institutions allowed common people to ignore the problems in their society and keep them out of their lives. Instead of actually helping mentally ill persons, asylums like Blackwell’s Island, allowed the insane problem to be taken out of the general public instead of actually helping anyone.

The view of mentally ill patients needing to be brushed away and subdued was highlighted on by Ten Days in a Madhouse. She writes about how horribly the patients were actually treated. Though a government institution, the women were not even granted enough clothes to keep them from shivering at all hours. This shows the horrible stigma with which the ill were considered to have because they were cast off as animals. The asylums allowed families to get rid of their burdens for someone else to deal with. By naming individuals and sharing some of their stories, she shows that even insane patients are people and must be treated with humanity. She emphasized the fact that these people cannot just be ignored or neglected. They are not simply a problem that has to be taken care of, but living, breathing people with feelings and senses. Through this account she shows how terribly ill people during her era were treated and how it could not continue. 

Finally, Nellie Bly’s account of her 10 days spent at the insane asylum show the inadequate treatment of mentally ill patients in her time frame. Going along with the intense neglect or mistreatment they were shown, patients were never adequately treated for their illnesses. The doctors and nurses were unqualified, to say the least, and had no actual knowledge of how to heal insanity. The doctors who treated Nellie barely paid attention to her, while the Nurses responded to any fits of madness with violence. She stated after being deemed insane by a doctor, “I felt sure now that no doctor could tell whether people were insane or not” (Bly). They also treated each day with the same horrible cycle of events, bathed the patients in ice cold water and woke them up throughout the night. Condemningly in the text, Nellie stated “What, excepting torture, would produce insanity quicker than this treatment?” (Bly). She showed here how even those who were sane when they entered, would break by simply experiencing the Asylum. Agreeing with this, Historical records show that the healing of mental illness was very lacking during this time and often made people worse. If patients were medically treated whatsoever and not just neglected, it was through ineffective means. Straightjackets, strong drugs, gyrating chairs, and bloodletting were all methods used unsuccessfully to treat the ill (Foerschner). Patients were even threatened to stop being insane as if they had a choice (Foerschner). Though not all of these action as depicted in Nellie’s account, her story shows other methods that were ineffective to treat patients.

This was one of the most impactful ideas that Bly’s book revealed out the culture of the late 1800s. She showed that during this time mental health facilities did nothing to actually aid the mentally ill. She also shed light on the fact that any treatments that were used were ineffectual and lacked any understanding of mental illness. Additionally, Doctors and nurses lacked the medical knowledge to help patients whatsoever. During this time, insanity was retaliated with intimidation and violence, as if these people had a conscious choice to make about rationality verses insanity. This is shown through the nurse’s violence towards the patients and the use of threats as a treatment to intimidate the patients to stop acting insane. She shows through her story how little her culture actually knew about psychologically related medical issues. 

Nellie Bly’s daring venture into Blackwell’s Island Insane Asylum exposed many aspects about her culture to the people of her era and to the reader now. Her account showed how truly little her society understood about the treatment of mental illness, or the mentally ill people themselves. Showing, also, the lack of power that women possessed during this time, she revealed the injustice of how this view caused individuality to be crushed by men. Along with showing how her culture was to the reader, Nellie exposed these issues to her own society and truly brought about a change in the treatment of Mental illness. After gaining popularity, Ten Days in a Madhouse even brought New York City to dedicate $1,000,000 more per year for mental illness. This account completely revealed the flaws in her society’s treatment of insanity, and revealed much about the culture in which she lived.
