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Mental illness isn’t a uniquely modern occurrence. The genetic influences that stand behind some types of mental illnesses, along with the physical and chemical assaults that can spark illnesses in some people, have always been part of human life.

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Medications And The Observations Of Those Effects On The Brain

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Medications And The Observations Of Those Effects On The Brain

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When scientists observed how certain medications blocked different receptors in the brain, they began discoveries using CAT scans and MRI’s to give more insight on the reactions each drug has on the parts of the brain. For example, when the discovery was made that the antipsychotic drugs block dopamine receptors in the brain, if any part of schizophrenia could be a result of an excess of dopamine.

#brainreceptors #medication #discoveries

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A new generation of prescription antipsychotic drugs emerge, as well as new technology in the medical field.

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) were developed to prevent serotonin from leaving brain.

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Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil were antidepressants developed in the 1980’s

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Dozens of people who were child patients at a psychiatric hospital in the 1960s and 70s claim they were experimented on with a so-called truth serum. It has left them with disturbing memories and troubling questions.

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A complete padded cell built to fit a room at Farnborough Hospital, made by Pocock Brothers, 1936-1970.

https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/medicine/victorian-mental-asylum

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The straitjacket restrained adult patients at the Frenchay Hospital, Bristol during the 1930s through to the 1960s.

https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/medicine/victorian-mental-asylum

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Talk or cognitive therapies started becoming more popular to treat mental illness patients. Talk therapies involve talking to someone who is trained to help you deal with your negative feelings.

"Oh, Esther, I wish you would cooperate. They say you don't cooperate. They say you won't talk to any of the doctors or make anything in Occupational Therapy..."
"I've got to get out of here," I told her meaningly. "Then I'd be all right. You got me in here," I said. "You get me out." (Plath 95)

Esther and her mother are having a brief talk about Esther's experience during her stay. Her mother tells Esther that she needs to participate in her therapy sessions. Esther doesn't believe it is helping her at all and that the talking is useless. She believes that leaving the hospital would be 'better' for her.

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Tofranil and Elavil were antidepressants developed in the 1960’s

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A wave of deinstitutionalization begins, moving patients from psychiatric hospitals to outpatient or less restrictive residential settings.

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Institutionalization was often thought of as the best method of treatment, but understaffing and poor living conditions prompted a push to outpatient care. It also sparked the development of antipsychotic drugs.

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The Beginning Use of Chlorpromazine For Those With Mental Disorders 

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The Beginning Use of Chlorpromazine For Those With Mental Disorders 

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In 1954, the U.S. Food And Drug Administration approved the use of Chlorpromazine. This is an antipsychotic that is used to treat mental illnesses, like schizophrenia and manic depression, blood disorders, severe nausea and vomiting, and anxiety before surgery. Many doctors didn’t want to use this on patients because they saw it as a sedative, but the first successes and trials came from state institutions. It ended up having huge affects on thousands to millions of people with mental disorders.

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In fact, over a 30-year period the number of institutionalized patients dropped from 560,000 in the 1950s to 154,000 in 1980.

People in facilities were removed and transferred to sometimes even worse conditions

https://dualdiagnosis.org/mental-health-and-addiction/history/

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“I had hoped, at my departure, I would feel sure and knowledgeable about everything that lay ahead -- after all, I had been "analyzed." Instead, all I could see were question marks” (Plath 128)

Esther's journey in the hospital has been a long road of ups and downs. During her stay, Esther still had negative thoughts and continued to harm herself. But towards the very end of the book, Esther enters a room for an interview, which will decide whether she can leave the hospital and return to school. If able to leave, Esther would be able to live a happy life where she can have a family and become the writers she has been wanting to do.

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Health Insurance Expansion To Mental Health Care

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Health Insurance Expansion To Mental Health Care

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In 1996, Mental Health America helped with securing the passage of the “Mental Health Parity Act”. This act was the first federal legislation to bring more fairness to the coverage of mental health care by health insurance.

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Mental Health America Taking A Step To Help Understanding

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Mental Health America Taking A Step To Help Understanding

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In 1971, Mental Health America produced and distributed a film called Only Human to help the public improve their understanding of mental illness and allowing acceptance of those with mental illnesses.

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The mental asylum was the historical equivalent of the modern psychiatric hospital which provided asylum in the sense of refuge to the mentally ill.

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Before asylums, people with mental illness or learning disabilities were cared for almost entirely by their families. Those who could not be kept at home often ended up destitute, begging for food and shelter

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Asylums were created in the 18th century for the purpose of housing people with psychological disorders to get treatment away from home, but the “treatments” included more excluding them from society, rather than helping to treat the patients. The patients were “treated” by crudely beating them, chaining them to their beds, keeping them in windowless rooms, and keeping them isolated from others.

#18thcenturyasylums #isolation #psychologicaldisorders

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The women's ward at St Luke's Hospital in London. Some patients are hard at work, others tear their hair out in torment, and some are slouched in despair. Print by by J. C. Stadler after A. C. Pugin and T. Rowlandson, 1809.
https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/medicine/victorian-mental-asylum
#womensward #thisistheenvironment #realityofasylums

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Today, instead of asylums, there are psychiatric hospitals run by state governments and local community hospitals, with the emphasis on short-term stays.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wsu-sandbox/chapter/mental-health-treatment-past-and-present/

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Laws have changed and now allow concerned family members and community members to place people with mental illnesses into facilities

Some state laws even force people with mental illnesses to take medications, even if they don’t wish to do so.

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“Then I thought maybe I ought to spill a little blood for practice, so I sat on the edge of the tub and crossed my right ankle over my left knee. Then I lifted my right hand with the razor and let it drop of its own weight, like a guillotine, onto the calf of my leg” (Plath 78)

Esther experiences harming herself in the bathroom. This would lead to several more occurrences where she explains how she hurt herself  and at least tried too. If someone was to notice the signs earlier, Esther would have been able to get treatment sooner and be able to live life again.
#knowthesigns #gethelp

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In this documentary, it shares the journey of two individuals that stayed in a psychiatric hospital. They talk about the how they got admitted into it, and their experience during their stay.

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Mental Hospitals: Then & Now (Documentary)

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Some of the first medicines to treat depression developed in late 1950s to help aid people

In "The Bell Jar", Esther's goes through multiple experiences of suicidal thoughts which caused her to get admitted into a Psychiatric Hospital. Through the hospital, it is hoped that through Esther taking medications daily her negative thoughts would go away.

“The thought that I might kill myself formed in my mind coolly as a tree or a flower.” (Plath 51)

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Chemists began to experiment with different powders and pills that could calm imbalances inside the brain and deliver real relief to people who had mental illnesses.

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Medications like lithium seemed capable of soothing people with very severe cases of bipolar disorder, while antipsychotic medications seemed capable of helping people with schizophrenia #medsfortreatment

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Some of the most common treatments in the early years consisted of Insulin induced comas, Lobotomies, Malarial infections, and electroshock treatments

https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/medicine/victorian-mental-asylum

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"I'm sorry, you don't seem to have improved, I think you'd better have some shock treatment. . ." (Plath 106)

In the book, Esther's doctors decide to give her electroshock therapies since some of the other treatments didn't work. Through her experience of therapy, Esther still experiences multiple suicidal thoughts due to the shock therapy not working. After getting a new doctor, Esther was able to receive rightful therapy and she starting getting better.
#shockwaves

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“[W]herever I sat—on the deck of a ship or at a street café in Paris or Bangkok—I would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air.”

Esther uses the symbol of the bell jar to explain that no matter where she goes or is, she is stuck in the hell of her own mind. She is trapped in “the bell jar” and no external stimulation, no matter how new and exciting, can improve the situation. It’s the sense of suffocating isolation that urges Esther’s suicidal urges.

#thebelljar #trappedinthoughts #mentalhealth #depression

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In this video, it shows photographs of the patients in psychiatric hospitals and the effects it had on them besides their illnesses #patientreality

youtu.be/SfTkBK6aXZg

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Victorian Asylum Patient Photos.US and UK. How our ancestors who had mental illness were treated.

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In this TedTalk, presenter Sangu Delle, confronts his own deep prejudice: that men shouldn't take care of their mental health. Delle shares how he learned to handle anxiety in a society that doesn’t prioritize emotions. As he says: "Being honest about how we feel doesn't make us weak -- it makes us human."

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There’s no shame in taking care of your mental health

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When stress got to be too much for TED Fellow Sangu Delle, he had to confront his own deep prejudice: that men shouldn’t take care of their mental health. In a personal talk, Delle shares how he learned to handle anxiety in a society that’s uncomfortable with emotions. As he says: “Being honest about how we feel doesn’t make us weak -- it makes us human.”

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The number of people hospitalized in the 1900s due to mental illness had reached staggering amount of patients.

https://dualdiagnosis.org/mental-health-and-addiction/history/