Mental Illnesses In The 1950s

In the 1950s mental illness wasn’t as big of a deal is it is now. There wasn’t as many treatment options or institutions with good conditions. Mental ill people had a hard time with discrimination to where they would be in poverty and/or homeless. Most people looked at them like they were freaks. They feared them, rejected them, and thought they were very violent and dangerous. That was only because they were different and people didn’t know how to react to something they didn’t understand. That’s understandable though, but it still doesn’t seem right to treat someone like that just because they have problems they can’t control and never wanted. Mental illnesses were treated, approached and look at differently in the 1950s than they are nowadays.

The illnesses themselves occur due to interactions of many cells and other factors like stress, abuse, or a traumatic event that which can influence or trigger an illness that a person has inherited a susceptibility to; Infections in the brain; Brain defects or injuries; Prenatal damage; or Substance abuse and other factors like poor nutrition. Psychological factors deal with: Psychological trauma as a child such as emotional, physical, or sexual abuse; An important early loss, such as losing a parent; Neglect; or Poor ability to relate to others. And Environmental factors that deal with: Death or Divorce; A dysfunctional family life; Feelings of inadequacy or low self-esteem; Changing jobs or schools; Social or Cultural expectations; or Substance abuse by them or their parents. There are many types of mental illness, and the most common include: Anxiety disorders, Mood disorders, Psychotic disorders, Eating disorders, Impulse control and Addiction disorders, Personality disorders, Obsessive-compulsive disorder

The institutions were known as psychiatric hospitals rather than mental hospitals. Occupational therapists were employed there to help prepare patients for life and work outside the hospitals, short-term patients did better than long-term patients because they hadn’t been away from the rest of the world as long as the long-term patients had been. In the 1950s, people general feared and rejected people with mental illnesses. Mentally ill people were considered psychotic by most people. People believed that the mentally ill were violent and dangerous which is probably why they were feared. Parents of children who were mentally ill wanted to get involved so they started an organization for a Forum school, which was a school for the mentally ill children. Several factors were responsible for this organization: 1.Widespread of children with an IQ of below 50, 2.A lack of community services for retarded people, 3.Long waiting list for admission to institutions, 4.Parental dissatisfaction with the condition of many institutions, 5.Leaders believing mutual assistance could bring benefits for public relations, exchange of information, and political actions, and last 6.The assistance of a few key professionals. The Forum school was established in 1954 and is still active to this day. It was hard for the public to distinguish a mental illness from ordinary unhappiness and worry and