This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
Unlike a broken arm, which is obvious and re- quires immediate medical attention, mental health issues are not always immediately recognized, nor have there always been effective medical treatment. Three women who paved the way for more humane and effective treatments of those with mental illnesses and related issues were Dorothea Dix, Karen Horney, and Virginia Satir.


Dorothea Dix’s life changed in March, 1841 when she was asked by a young Harvard divinity student to teach a Sunday school class for women at the East Cambridge (Massachusetts) jail. Among the drunkards, prostitutes and other criminals in the unheated building, she found a number of women whose only crime was their in- sanity. She was outraged that these women were being treated in such a manner. At a time when women did not yet speak in public, Dix brought


the matter before the local court then in session. Heat was provided for the women, renovations were made to the jail, and Dix had found her vocation.


There were a few mental institutions in the U.S. in the 1840s where hu- mane treatment was provided for those with mental illnesses. However, particularly among the poor and un- educated (public education was not yet widespread nor mandatory), many mentally ill individuals were either vir-


32 Kalon Women Magazine May 2012


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60