Dorothea Dix

History gives us a lot of examples of significant men in the field of psychology. Have you ever wondered where the women are? Women have had significantly less power throughout history, and this has silenced many of their voices. However, Dorothea Dix was determined to make her voice heard.

Fig. 1 - Dorothea Dix plaque.

Dorothea Dix: Biography

Dorothea Lynde Dix was born on April 4th, 1802 in Hampden, Maine in the United States. Dix seems to have had a troubled childhood. It is believed that both of her parents suffered from alcohol addiction and that her father was abusive. Because of this, she was sent to live with family in Boston, where she continued her education and developed a love for teaching. Dix worked industriously and, in a few short years, began teaching, designing curriculum, and opening schools in Boston and the surrounding areas.

Health troubles caused Dix to reduce the time she spent in the classroom. During this period, she wrote several foundational and educational books that found great success in the classroom. Her poor health continued to interrupt her teaching career and even forced her to close her schools. However, following her illness, she took a trip through Europe that would give her renewed direction in life.

Dorthea Dix: Beginnings of Reform

During her travels, Dix was inspired by young reformers in Europe. She took up their passion for the welfare of prisoners, medical patients, and those with mental disorders. When she returned to the United States, Dix spent time visiting and assessing the state of care in prisons and mental institutions across the country. She found conditions and treatment in these facilities to be shockingly inhumane and ineffective. Dix reported her findings to local politicians and urged for better facilities and treatment standards.

At the time, prisons adhered to no regulated standards of management or care. Those suffering from mental disorders were often lumped into the same correctional facilities as aggressive criminals. Prisoners received more abuse than remediation in these places. Dix’s reports were filled with stories of physical and sexual abuse, neglect, poor sanitation, and insufficient food and resources.

Conditions were not much better at mental health institutions. This was a time when patients were beaten, bled, or restrained in the name of treatment. All of these things inspired Dix to push for reform in the way mental health patients and prisoners were treated. This led to the development of more humane therapeutic practices and better facilities. As a result, the number of patients in these facilities began to decrease.

Dorothea Dix: Psychology

Dorothea Dix contributed to the field of psychology by inspiring drastic reform in the treatment of patients and the quality of mental health facilities. If not for her advocacy, our notion of mental patients and mental health care may never have evolved.

Dix also helped change public opinion regarding addiction and women who had children out of wedlock. At the time, alcoholism was viewed as a moral failing that victims brought upon themselves. Women who conceived without marrying were shunned and considered undeserving of care or assistance. Dix argued that all are deserving of care, regardless of the current public opinion on these topics.

Dorothea Dix: Accomplishments

When the Civil War broke out, Dix volunteered as a nurse. A short time later, she was appointed as the Superintendent of Army Nurses for the Union Army. She was the first woman to hold such a prestigious position. She treated patients, appointed nurses, and oversaw the nursing staff. At a time when women did not have much agency or status in the workplace, she received considerable pushback from male doctors.

Dix took her mental health advocacy across the United States, and eventually across the Atlantic Ocean to England and continental Europe. She advocated for change in Scotland and England and even managed to petition Queen Victoria. She sent petitions to Pope Pius IX in Italy and continued her efforts in France and Turkey.

Fig. 2 - Dorothea Dix Hospital

Dorothea Dix: Reform movement

Dorothea Dix helped lead a major reform movement in the treatment of psychological patients.

Dix's grandmother passed in 1837 and left her with a sizable inheritance. This enabled her to devote all of her time and energy to reform work. Her advocacy lead to more humane and effective treatments that helped to reduce the number of people admitted to institutions and drastically reduce the time that patients spent there.

In the 18th and early 19th centuries, it was common for people to pay a fee to enter mental health institutions solely to gawk at the patients as if they were animals in a zoo. Patients were often stripped of their clothing, shackled, or brutalized. It was a common belief that mental couldn't feel cold or pain as a result of their mental state.

Dorothea cataloged everything she saw in these asylums. At the time, it was not common to hear women speaking of such harrowing imagery in public. Because of this, her testimonies had even greater effect on the public and on the political community.

Dorothea Dix: Significance

Dorothea Dix often receives marginal attention in history books or textbooks. It's true that her involvement in the mental health field didn't specifically bring us to a better understanding of mental disorders. It did, however, demonstrate that more humane care directly impacts a patient's treatment.

Dix achieved a lot in her lifetime. She was well-educated and opened several schools before her health began to decline. At a time when women were thought to be too fair for grotesque images of suffering, Dorothea spoke up about the injustices she witnessed at institutional facilities.

Women had very little political power at the time.

Through Dix's efforts, she succeeded in opening a hospital in New Jersey in 1881. Her petitioning helped open the hospital and fund the building effort. It was at this same hospital that she received treatment at the end of her life.

Dix is credited as being the leader of the mental health reform movement. She founded and reformed over 30 mental health facilities. She helped to change the public opinion that the mentally ill were lost causes that should be kept separate from the rest of society. Dix advocated for the "moral treatment" of the mentally ill that brought more compassionate care to the treatment of mental conditions.