
Nellie Bly’s “Ten Days in a Mad-House” is an exposé on the abuse and mistreatment of women inside insane asylums in the late 19th century, more specifically 1887. Lunacy in the 19th Century, a scholarly journal that focuses on this specific period and discusses huge problems within American society in regards to women. Specifically, the journal focuses on women’s rights and how the lack thereof led many women to prolonged stays in mental institutions. Factors such as relationships, religious views, large numbers of kids which could bring about stress, and mishandled grief played major roles in the diagnosis and admittance of women into mental institutions and are discussed in depth throughout the journal. Bly’s time in the asylum, her work after, and the work of many others proves that “between the years of 1850-1900, women were placed in mental institutions for behaving in ways that male society did not agree with” and sought to change this (Pouba 95). “Lunatic Asylums in America” is an article written in the British Medical Journal written to shine a light on several of the same issues as Lunacy in the 19th Century, but focuses more on the issues concerning the asylums mistreatment of the women, not the reasons why they are institutionalized. Both of these articles provide historical context and serve as reliable sources to back up Nellie Bly’s findings during her stay in the Blackwell’s Island Lunatic Asylum. “Women during this time period had minimal rights, even concerning their own mental health” and were institutionalized for various “illnesses” that would not remotely be considered mental disorders in the world today (Pouba 95). Asylums in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were full of abuse and mistreatment of patients, with many practices used as “cures” that brought more suffering upon the ill. Although mental institutions at the time had what would be considered horrible standards of living today, the treatment of women in specific mental institutions was especially harsh. Nellie Bly’s writings and her stay in the asylum works to prove all the points mentioned above. Bly’s work is powerful, striking, and shines a very bright light on many of the issues women faced during this time by putting herself in the shoes of these women. The fact that Bly took the time out to stay in an asylum rather than just writing based on the words and experiences of others makes the points she makes more powerful and carry more weight.

A major issue within the women’s mental institutions of the time was the insanely large number of women institutionalized for simply not complying with men’s standards of living. Some of the women were admitted to the asylums and “diagnosed insane by reasons such as religious excitement, epilepsy, and suppressed menstruation” (Pouba 95). Because of the lack of rights for women in this time, it was extremely hard for women to even stick up for themselves in these situations. When admitted to the asylum, Nellie Bly asked Miss Tillie Mayard if she was crazy and her immediate answer was a simple no. Although Tillie Mayard says she is sane, there is no proof at this stage of their stay that her sanity is in fact intact, but it is proven as the story continues.  The first character the audience sees in the story besides Nellie Bly is pronounced as a completely sane woman before one can even read deeper into the story which tells a lot about the steps taken to prove these women need help before being admitted to these asylums. Instead of describing her surroundings in complete detail, Bly stops and recognizes that someone else in there with her is also sane and Tillie Mayard represents a large group of people, not just herself.. In many of the cases, the circumstances are extremely saddening because the people working in these mental institutions did not seem to show any type of care to the patients and only did the bare minimum to keep them alive. 

The craziest part of it all is that Bly was only in the institution for ten days but witnessed so much. The monotonous routine, the less than nutritious food, and the harsh nurses contributed to many of the women’s mental deterioration during their time in the asylum. A major focus of Nellie Bly’s work was talking about the women in the asylum who were committed for ludicrous reasons and watching their transitions from sane to insane while inside the institution. Bly mentions watching “the insanity slowly creep over [a] mind that had appeared to be all right” (Bly 295) in the beginning of their stay in the institution. The British Medical Journal states “that some of the State, county, and city insane asylums ‘have failed of their purpose through mismanagement, or a misconception of proper methods to be used’” (Lunatic Asylums in America 19). This article was written in 1881, a few years prior to Nellie Bly’s stay in an institution but the facts presented in the article still prove to be true in Bly’s time through her work. She mentions the awful treatment of the patients by the nurses and the abuse they were forced to endure. Aside from the diagnoses given above, many women were also admitted to these asylums simply because they spoke foreign languages. Because of their accents and the different languages, they spoke, many women were punished by being subjected to institutions where they were treated extremely harshly. An example of this treatment is Mrs. Louise Schanz, a woman in the Blackwell asylum, along with Nellie Bly. “Mrs. Louise Schanz consigned to the asylum without a chance of making herself understood” (Bly 288) simply because she spoke another language. To add to this awful fact, there was a nurse in the asylum who understood Mrs. Schanz but refused to help her. Because this was a real occurrence and no way for Nellie Bly to ask why the nurse refused, it is easy for the readers to assume this is another example of the nurses’ mistreatment of patients. Not only did the nurses provide the patients with the bare minimum in terms of care, “they pounced upon [patients] and slapped [their] face[s] and knocked [their] head[s] in a lively fashion” and they also choked them (Bly 297). Although the most saddening part of all these women’s stories is that the people responsible for taking care of them and helping them overcome their disorders, became their torturers and bullies out of pure amusement. The nurses in Bly’s institution found teasing and abusing their patients not only comical but fulfilling. The actions of nurses, not only in the Blackwell Asylum but in institutions across the nation, had a major contribution to the deterioration of the mental health of the sane patients and further deterioration of those that were actually mentally ill. 

All in all, Nellie Bly’s undercover work helped expose many problems within the American Mental institutions. Although institutions like the British Medical Journal took the time to investigate these institutions and found disturbing things going on inside, not many steps were taken to fix things because the people in power were men who were not particularly interested in helping create stronger and more enforced rights for women. The fact that these men were not willing to help is more proof of the fact that many of these women were placed in these institutions since their actions did not conform to men’s ideals. Of course, the people placing these women in institutions and making profits off the women’s misfortunes would not be willing to help release or take better care of them. Bly’s exposé helped shine a light on many problems within the institutions, but also brought on a lot of backlash. Many felt that her work was dramatized to sell and did not accurately depict what happened within these institutions. The work of others alongside Bly and studies like that mentioned in Lunacy in the 19th Century and “Lunatic Asylums in America” helped bring justice to the women being abused and wrongfully institutionalized and helped bring about better treatments for those within the institutions who were ill. 
