tually imprisoned by their families or in actual im- prisonment under almost unspeakable conditions. Dix undertook an eighteen-month survey of every jail, almshouse, and house of correction in Massa- chusetts. Her report was provided to the Massa- chusetts legislature in 1843, whereupon the legis- lature appropriated funds to expand the state fa- cilities so that the mentally ill could receive proper care and treatment.
Heartened by her success in Massachusetts, Dix investigated conditions for the mentally ill in Rhode Island and New York. As in Massachu- setts, she was able to secure additional funds for better treatment of individuals with mental ill- nesses.
In New Jersey, she was able to over- come bitter opposition leading to the establish-
ment of the state’s first mental hospital in Trenton, New Jersey, which she referred to as her “first-born child”. She moved onward to other states including Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Illinois, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Many times, she remained in a state until appropriations for new facilities were forthcoming.
Her work was widely publicized and her name became a household word. When she began her work in 1843, there were thirteen mental hospitals in the United States. By 1880, there were 123. She played a direct role in the founding of thirty-two state mental hospitals; she helped lay the groundwork for advances in psychiatric diagnosis and treatment. Dix’s contributions have been recognized by commemorating her on a U.S. post- age stamp.
German-born psychiatrist and psycho- analyst Karen Horney directly benefited from all of the work that Dorothea Dix had done to advance the diagnosis and treat- ment of individuals with mental illnesses. Drawn to psychoanalysis as a treatment for her own depression, Horney had de- cided at age twelve to become a doctor – if she couldn’t be beautiful, she would be
May 2012 33 Kalon Women Magazine
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