Encyclopedia, Difference between revisions of "Dorothea Dix" - New World

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[[Image:Dix-Dorothea-LOC.jpg|right|thumb|Dorothea Dix]]
 
[[Image:Dix-Dorothea-LOC.jpg|right|thumb|Dorothea Dix]]
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'''Dorothea Lynde Dix''' ([[April 4]], [[1802]] – [[July 17]], [[1887]]) was  as an activist on behalf of the indigent insane. She created the first generation of American mental asylums through her vigorous program of lobbying state legislatures and the [[United States Congress]].  She traveled the world, and her work changed the way we treat the insane. She started her carrer writing children's books and starting schools, and during the [[Civil War]] was [[Superintendent of United States Army Nurses]], creating a volunteer female nursing corps.  
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'''Dorothea Lynde Dix''' ([[April 4]], [[1802]] – [[July 17]], [[1887]]) was  as an activist on behalf of the indigent insane. She created the first generation of American mental asylums through her vigorous program of lobbying state legislatures and the [[United States Congress]].  She traveled the world, and her work changed the way we treat the insane. She started her career writing children's books and starting schools, and during the [[Civil War]] was [[Superintendent of United States Army Nurses]], creating a volunteer female nursing corps.  
  
 
==Life==
 
==Life==
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Dorthea Dix was born in the tiny frontier village of [[Hampden, Maine]], on April 4, 1802 to a family in constant distress.  Somehow, she managed to become a woman whose epitaph stated that the United States has not produced a more productive or useful woman.  Her father,Joseph Dix, was an itinerant Methodist preacher who was also an alcoholic. Her mother, Mary Bigeloe Dix, was four years her father's senior and constantly had headaches literally and figuatively, struggling with depression and the families lack of finances.  Dorthea took care of the other children.  Dorthea was forced to stitch words on religious tracts for her father to sell. She never liked to talk about her childhood, and has said that she never had a childhood.  She did, however, learn to read and write from her father, and taught her siblings also to read an write.  She taught her brothers, and later her sister.  
+
Dorthea Dix was born in the tiny frontier village of [[Hampden, Maine]], on April 4, 1802 to a family in constant distress.  Somehow, she managed to become a woman whose epitaph stated that the United States has not produced a more productive or useful woman.  Her father,Joseph Dix, was an itinerant Methodist preacher who was also an alcoholic. Her mother, Mary Bigeloe Dix, was four years her father's senior and constantly had headaches literally and figuratively, struggling with depression and the families lack of finances.  Dorthea took care of the other children.  Dorthea was forced to stitch words on religious tracts for her father to sell. She never liked to talk about her childhood, and has said that she never had a childhood.  She did, however, learn to read and write from her father, and taught her siblings also to read an write.  She taught her brothers, and later her sister.  
  
 
When she was twelve, the fighting between her parents became too much, and she went to her paternal grandmother's house in [[Worcester, Massachusetts|Worcester]]. She had been named after her grandmother, and had always loved that grandfather, Dr.Elijah Dix. She especially loved reading his books from when he was a student at Harvard University.  Her grandmother wanted her to become a lady, and as she was rich, she gave Dorthea tennis lessons, a seamstress to make her clothes and everything a young society lady would want.  She was very upset when Dorthea would be giving those clothes away to the poor who stood outside the gate. After a few years, Dorthea went to her aunt, as her grandmother felt her aunt could help her more.  Dorthea wanted to return and help her siblings, and tried very hard, but it was four more years before she could return.
 
When she was twelve, the fighting between her parents became too much, and she went to her paternal grandmother's house in [[Worcester, Massachusetts|Worcester]]. She had been named after her grandmother, and had always loved that grandfather, Dr.Elijah Dix. She especially loved reading his books from when he was a student at Harvard University.  Her grandmother wanted her to become a lady, and as she was rich, she gave Dorthea tennis lessons, a seamstress to make her clothes and everything a young society lady would want.  She was very upset when Dorthea would be giving those clothes away to the poor who stood outside the gate. After a few years, Dorthea went to her aunt, as her grandmother felt her aunt could help her more.  Dorthea wanted to return and help her siblings, and tried very hard, but it was four more years before she could return.
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She began to prepare herself for her new mission. To create decent conditions for the mentally ill. She read extensively and interviewed physicians about the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. She acquainted herself with the work of reformers Philipe Pinel, [[Benjamin Rush]] and William Tuke. Her became as educated as anyone of the day with the various aspects of mental illness.
 
She began to prepare herself for her new mission. To create decent conditions for the mentally ill. She read extensively and interviewed physicians about the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. She acquainted herself with the work of reformers Philipe Pinel, [[Benjamin Rush]] and William Tuke. Her became as educated as anyone of the day with the various aspects of mental illness.
  
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In her mid-thirties she had a physical breakdown,probably tuberculosis.  The treatment for thist was not well known at the time. In hopes of a cure, in 1836 she traveled to [[England]], where she had a letter of introduction from Channing and stayed with the Rathbone family for a year at Greenbank, their ancestral mansion in [[Liverpool]].  The Rathbones were [[Quaker]]s and prominent social reformers, and at Greenbank Dix met men and women who believed that government should play a direct, active role in social welfare.  She was also exposed to the British lunacy reform movement, whose methods involved detailed investigations of madhouses and asylums, the results of which were published in reports to the [[House of Commons]].
+
In her mid-thirties she had a physical breakdown,probably tuberculosis.  The treatment for this was not well known at the time. In hopes of a cure, in 1836 she traveled to [[England]], where she had a letter of introduction from Channing and stayed with the Rathbone family for a year at Greenbank, their ancestral mansion in [[Liverpool]].  The Rathbones were [[Quaker]]s and prominent social reformers, and at Greenbank Dix met men and women who believed that government should play a direct, active role in social welfare.  She was also exposed to the British lunacy reform movement, whose methods involved detailed investigations of madhouses and asylums, the results of which were published in reports to the [[House of Commons]].
  
 
After she returned to America, in 1840-41 Dix conducted a thorough statewide investigation of how her home state of [[Massachusetts]] cared for the insane poor.  She published the results in a fiery pamphlet, a ''Memorial'', to the state legislature.  "I proceed, Gentlemen, briefly to call your attention to the present state of Insane Persons confined within this Commonwealth, in cages, stalls, pens! Chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience." The outcome of her lobbying was a bill to create, expand and develop state mental hospitals.  
 
After she returned to America, in 1840-41 Dix conducted a thorough statewide investigation of how her home state of [[Massachusetts]] cared for the insane poor.  She published the results in a fiery pamphlet, a ''Memorial'', to the state legislature.  "I proceed, Gentlemen, briefly to call your attention to the present state of Insane Persons confined within this Commonwealth, in cages, stalls, pens! Chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience." The outcome of her lobbying was a bill to create, expand and develop state mental hospitals.  
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Dix fought ill -health all her life, yet was probably the greatest humanitarian in nineteenth century America.  She was instrumental in founding 32 mental hospitals, 15 schools for the feeble minded, a school for the blind, and numerous training facilities for nurses. Her efforts were an indirect inspiration for the building of many additional institutions for the mentally ill. She also helped establish libraries in prisons, mental hospitals and other institutions.
 
Dix fought ill -health all her life, yet was probably the greatest humanitarian in nineteenth century America.  She was instrumental in founding 32 mental hospitals, 15 schools for the feeble minded, a school for the blind, and numerous training facilities for nurses. Her efforts were an indirect inspiration for the building of many additional institutions for the mentally ill. She also helped establish libraries in prisons, mental hospitals and other institutions.
  
−
During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], at fifty nine years old, Dix volunteered for service in the Army for the Union.  She was appointed Superintendent of Army Nurses.  She worked tirelessly throughout the war without pay to benefit the conditions of both the nurses and patients. She battled many prejudices and effectively promoted the use of female nurses, supervising 3,000 of them. She insisted that they be respected by the officials and patients and that they not be distracted by the men. To help this end, she only used less attractive women over thirty serve. She also ordered court marshaled every doctor she found drunk or disorderly. She was on in years and no longer cared whose toes she stepped on. Her volunteer corps were wildly popular and readily accepted by civilian authorities, although scorned by the Army. She would often bring in supplies from private sources when there were not enough rations, medicines, and supplies from the military.  Although she was not prepared for the bueracracy of the Army, and some say her administration skills were not the bestm, the nursing corps was undoubtedly better for her administration.  
+
During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], at fifty nine years old, Dix volunteered for service in the Army for the Union.  She was appointed Superintendent of Army Nurses.  She worked tirelessly throughout the war without pay to benefit the conditions of both the nurses and patients. She battled many prejudices and effectively promoted the use of female nurses, supervising 3,000 of them. She insisted that they be respected by the officials and patients and that they not be distracted by the men. To help this end, she only used less attractive women over thirty serve. She also ordered court marshaled every doctor she found drunk or disorderly. She was on in years and no longer cared whose toes she stepped on. Her volunteer corps were wildly popular and readily accepted by civilian authorities, although scorned by the Army. She would often bring in supplies from private sources when there were not enough rations, medicines, and supplies from the military.  Although she was not prepared for the bureaucracy of the Army, and some say her administration skills were not the best, the nursing corps was undoubtedly better for her administration.  
  
 
When Dorthea Dix was 73, she watched the first class of nurses especially trained to care for the insane graduate from "her" hospital, the New Jersey State Hospital at Trenton New Jersey.. She spent her last years living in a private apartment there writing letters from her bed defending those who could not defend themselves until she died there in 1975. She died in 1887 and was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her epitaph read, "She was the most useful and distinguished woman America has yet produced."
 
When Dorthea Dix was 73, she watched the first class of nurses especially trained to care for the insane graduate from "her" hospital, the New Jersey State Hospital at Trenton New Jersey.. She spent her last years living in a private apartment there writing letters from her bed defending those who could not defend themselves until she died there in 1975. She died in 1887 and was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her epitaph read, "She was the most useful and distinguished woman America has yet produced."

Revision as of 10:00, 26 September 2006



Dorothea Dix

Dorothea Lynde Dix (April 4, 1802 – July 17, 1887) was as an activist on behalf of the indigent insane. She created the first generation of American mental asylums through her vigorous program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress. She traveled the world, and her work changed the way we treat the insane. She started her career writing children's books and starting schools, and during the Civil War was Superintendent of United States Army Nurses, creating a volunteer female nursing corps.

Life

Dorthea Dix was born in the tiny frontier village of Hampden, Maine, on April 4, 1802 to a family in constant distress. Somehow, she managed to become a woman whose epitaph stated that the United States has not produced a more productive or useful woman. Her father,Joseph Dix, was an itinerant Methodist preacher who was also an alcoholic. Her mother, Mary Bigeloe Dix, was four years her father's senior and constantly had headaches literally and figuratively, struggling with depression and the families lack of finances. Dorthea took care of the other children. Dorthea was forced to stitch words on religious tracts for her father to sell. She never liked to talk about her childhood, and has said that she never had a childhood. She did, however, learn to read and write from her father, and taught her siblings also to read an write. She taught her brothers, and later her sister.

When she was twelve, the fighting between her parents became too much, and she went to her paternal grandmother's house in Worcester. She had been named after her grandmother, and had always loved that grandfather, Dr.Elijah Dix. She especially loved reading his books from when he was a student at Harvard University. Her grandmother wanted her to become a lady, and as she was rich, she gave Dorthea tennis lessons, a seamstress to make her clothes and everything a young society lady would want. She was very upset when Dorthea would be giving those clothes away to the poor who stood outside the gate. After a few years, Dorthea went to her aunt, as her grandmother felt her aunt could help her more. Dorthea wanted to return and help her siblings, and tried very hard, but it was four more years before she could return.

At one of the society events, Dorthea met Edward Bangs, her second cousin. He was fourteen years her senior, and an attorney but he really appreciated her knowledge and desire to help others. He helped her start a school in a small shop on the main street. At fifteen years old she taught twenty pupils from ages six to eight and it was quite successful. She ran this school for three years, with much support from Bangs for which she was very grateful. Meanwhile, Bangs grew quite fond of her, and eventually proposed. She was scared, she feared a marriage like her parents. She closed the school and returned to her grandmother's house. Bang still pursued her, and she agreed to marry him but would not set a date. She eventually realized her schools were most important to her, and gave his ring back to him.

Dix was not religiously satisfied by the Methodism of her father, and by the early 1820s had found her religious home among Unitarians. She appreciated the Unitarian emphasis on the goodness of God, purity of heart, openness to new knowledge and responsibility for the good of all society. She became a close friend of William Ellery Channing, the famous pastor of the Federal Street Church in Boston. She was their governess upon occaision and traveled with the family on vacations sometimes. She read many printed Unitarian sermons appreciatively and critically.

When Dix was twenty nine, she had her epiphany. On March 28, 1841 she came to the East Cambridge Jail to teach a Sunday School class for women. She was shocked by what she saw. The mentally ill, the criminals, the debt -ridden were all together in an unheated place with a stone floor for their bed. One man was chained naked and whipped to get him to behave better. She was told that the insane do not feel things like heat of cold. She could not tolerate this. From then, this was Dix's calling. She toured many facilities in Massachusetts and started to document the conditions incarceration of the insane. Her society years had helped her gain many admiring friends with great influence, and Bangs among them helped her win time lobbying legislature and gaining further contacts.

She began to prepare herself for her new mission. To create decent conditions for the mentally ill. She read extensively and interviewed physicians about the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. She acquainted herself with the work of reformers Philipe Pinel, Benjamin Rush and William Tuke. Her became as educated as anyone of the day with the various aspects of mental illness.

In her mid-thirties she had a physical breakdown,probably tuberculosis. The treatment for this was not well known at the time. In hopes of a cure, in 1836 she traveled to England, where she had a letter of introduction from Channing and stayed with the Rathbone family for a year at Greenbank, their ancestral mansion in Liverpool. The Rathbones were Quakers and prominent social reformers, and at Greenbank Dix met men and women who believed that government should play a direct, active role in social welfare. She was also exposed to the British lunacy reform movement, whose methods involved detailed investigations of madhouses and asylums, the results of which were published in reports to the House of Commons.

After she returned to America, in 1840-41 Dix conducted a thorough statewide investigation of how her home state of Massachusetts cared for the insane poor. She published the results in a fiery pamphlet, a Memorial, to the state legislature. "I proceed, Gentlemen, briefly to call your attention to the present state of Insane Persons confined within this Commonwealth, in cages, stalls, pens! Chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience." The outcome of her lobbying was a bill to create, expand and develop state mental hospitals.

Dix then traveled from New Hampshire to Louisiana, documenting the condition of pauper lunatics, publishing memorials to state legislatures, and devoting enormous personal energy to working with committees to draft the appropriations bills needed to build asylums.

Work

Dix's views about the treatment of the mentally ill were radical for her time. It was commonly believed that the insane could never be cured and it was sufficient to care for them minimally. Dix could see that simply bettering the conditions of the inmates helped them. One example she gave involved young woman who was for years 'a raging maniac' chained in a cage and whipped to control her acts and words. She slowly she recovered her senses simply by the kind treatment of a couple who had agreed to take care of her in their home.

Dix visited every state east of the Mississippi River, most of the United States at that time. Her process was always the same. She first made careful documentation of the conditions in the various institutions, then prepared a document to report these to the State Legislature. Her first "child" was the New Jersey State Hospital in Trenton. This was the first to be set up with State funds, thus establishing that social service was within the scope of government. She was instrumental in the founding of the first public mental hospital in Pennsylvania, the Harrisburg State Hospital, and later in establishing its library and reading room in 1853. [1] Many other states followed suit, and the word began to spread how many former inmates could improve.

In the twentieth century, some unjustly blame Dix for the custodialism of the hospitals she had helped found. Her writings are clear how she hated custodialism and she argued strongly that the mentally ill should be provided therapy, books, music, recreation and, above all, meaningful work. She embraced a holistic approach to care and treatment.

Her dream was legislation to set aside Federal land to be sold, with proceeds from its sale distributed to the states to build and maintain asylums. Dix's land bill passed both houses of congress, but in 1854 President Franklin Pierce vetoed it, arguing that the federal government should not involve itself in social welfare.

Stung by the defeat of her land bill, in 1854-55 Dix traveled to England and Europe, where she reconnected with the Rathbones and conducted investigations of Scotland's madhouses that precipitated the Scottish Lunacy Commission. Then, throughout the 1850's she carried on her work in the British Isles, France, Greece, Russia, Canada, Japan and in the United States with hospitals being established in those locations.

As a teacher, she wrote many books and had success helping parents learn to work with their own children. "Conversations on Common Things", published in 1824 and much reprinted, helped parents appreciate and answer their children's questions such as: "Why do we call this day Monday? Why do we call this month January? What is tin? Does cinnamon grow on trees?" The answers given demonstrated Dix's extensive knowledge of the natural world and understanding of children and teaching.

Legacy

Dix fought ill -health all her life, yet was probably the greatest humanitarian in nineteenth century America. She was instrumental in founding 32 mental hospitals, 15 schools for the feeble minded, a school for the blind, and numerous training facilities for nurses. Her efforts were an indirect inspiration for the building of many additional institutions for the mentally ill. She also helped establish libraries in prisons, mental hospitals and other institutions.

During the Civil War, at fifty nine years old, Dix volunteered for service in the Army for the Union. She was appointed Superintendent of Army Nurses. She worked tirelessly throughout the war without pay to benefit the conditions of both the nurses and patients. She battled many prejudices and effectively promoted the use of female nurses, supervising 3,000 of them. She insisted that they be respected by the officials and patients and that they not be distracted by the men. To help this end, she only used less attractive women over thirty serve. She also ordered court marshaled every doctor she found drunk or disorderly. She was on in years and no longer cared whose toes she stepped on. Her volunteer corps were wildly popular and readily accepted by civilian authorities, although scorned by the Army. She would often bring in supplies from private sources when there were not enough rations, medicines, and supplies from the military. Although she was not prepared for the bureaucracy of the Army, and some say her administration skills were not the best, the nursing corps was undoubtedly better for her administration.

When Dorthea Dix was 73, she watched the first class of nurses especially trained to care for the insane graduate from "her" hospital, the New Jersey State Hospital at Trenton New Jersey.. She spent her last years living in a private apartment there writing letters from her bed defending those who could not defend themselves until she died there in 1975. She died in 1887 and was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her epitaph read, "She was the most useful and distinguished woman America has yet produced."

Notes

  1. ↑ Historic Asylums article on Harrisburg State Hospital. The Dorothea Dix Museum and Library founded in 1853 is located at the Harrisburg State Hospital.

Bibliography

  • "Conversations on Common Things." 1824. ASIN: B0008706FE
  • "American Moral Tales for Young Persons." 1832.
  • "On Behalf of the Insane Poor." ISBN: 0898754518
  • "The Garland of Flora." 1829.
  • "Meditations for Private Hours." 1828.
  • The primary archival repository for Dix's unpublished works, including her letters, is in the Houghton Library at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Recommended Reading

  • Gollaher, David: Voice for the Mad: The Life of Dorothea Dix, (The Free Press, 1995)

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees


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