Dorothea Dix - Research Paper Example

Dorothea Dix (I Tell What I Have Seen—The Reports of Asylum Reformer Dorothea Dix, p.623) Dorothea Lynde Dix was an American activist who worked for the wellbeing of the mentally disordered patients. She has conducted vigorous programs of lobbying in the American Congress for making the legislations suitable for the mentally retarded patients. During American Civil War, she served as Superintendent of Army Nurses and did everything possible to ensure better services to the patients, especially to mental patients. At the time of Dix insanity was considered as a social crime rather than a disease and hence nobody came forward to the rescue of the insane patients. Insanity, craziness or madness is a pattern of behaviors which makes people a danger to themselves and others. “Dorothea Dix played an instrumental role in the founding or expansion of more than 30 hospitals for the treatment of the mentally ill” (I Tell What I Have Seen—The Reports of Asylum Reformer Dorothea Dix, p.624). This paper briefly analyses the history of Dorothea Lynde Dix and her contributions to the society as a social reformer and a dedicated nurse. Dorothea Linde Dix was born on April 4, 1802 in Hampden, Maine. Today the land where Dix’s house stood is called the Dorothea Dix Park (Colman, p.12). When Dorothea was born, Thomas Jefferson was American president and only 16 states were there in America. Maine was not a state at that time. She was grown up first in Worcester, Massachusetts, and then went to Boston at the age of twelve, in order to stay with wealthy grandmother. The major purpose of her journey towards Boston was to escape from her alcoholic and abusive father. Joseph Dix was her father and Mary Bigelow was her mother. The Dix family had two other children also, born after Dorothea. Dorothea’s social activities started at the age of 19. She opened a school in Boston with the assistance of her wealthy grandmother in order to give education to the children of wealthy family. Soon she realized the importance of giving education to the poor also and started to teach poor and neglected children at home. However, hard work destroyed her health drastically even at the youth age and for around from six years (1824 to 1830) she was unable to do any hard work except writing certain devotion books and stories for children. She published a small book of facts for schoolteachers during this period which became extremely popular. “By the time of the Civil War, Conversations on Common Things; or, Guide to Knowledge: With Questions had been reprinted 60 times” (I Tell What I Have Seen—The Reports of Asylum Reformer Dorothea Dix, p.624). This book was written as a conversation between a mother and daughter and she tried to criticize the discrimination in giving education to men and women. Dix failed to get proper education because of the social discrimination existed during her period with respect to the education of the men and women. Only the male community got better education during her period. She has restarted her educational activities in 1831 and opened another model school for the girls. However, she could not continue her activities because of the failure of her health again. She suffered a mental illness during this period and her ill health ended her teaching career which motivated her to look for other options of social activities. She went to England in 1836 for better treatment and this journey has shaped her career as a dedicated social reformer. “Dorothea’s growth and development from a teacher of young ladies to the Samaritan of the mentally afflicted is a fascinating story”(Dorothea Dix, Forgotten Samaritan, p.1441). In England, she got company of a family (William Rathbone family) which engaged in political and social reformation process. Moreover, “she met prison reformer Elizabeth Fry, and Samuel Tuke, founder of the York Retreat for the mentally ill during this period. (I Tell What I Have Seen—The Reports of Asylum Reformer Dorothea Dix, p.624). Her grandmother’s death in 1837 again brought her back in Boston. During her stay at England, she met many social reformers including men and women and exchanged their views. These interactions cultivated a belief in the mind of Dix that the government should play a direct, active role in social welfare. Dix had the habit of taking classes in the Sunday school also since she was a firm believer in God and Christianity. Moreover she had visited many jails during this period and realized the pathetic conditions of the mentally retarded inhabitants. She has realized that the society has no authority to sentence mental patients and she argued that instead of sending the mental patients to jails, they should be given treatments. “She did not even begin her most important social reform until she was 39 years old” (Muckenhoupt, p.8). “At the beginning of her career as a reformer, Dix was energetic and the picture of health” (Muckenhoupt, p.66). Once she has started social reformation career, she worked hard for the demolition of social evils. She travelled more than 60 countries in 10 weeks time during the beginning of her social reformation career. In 1840 she returned to America and conducted a statewide investigation of how her home state of Massachusetts cared for the insane poor and concluded that the treatment received by mental patients were inadequate. Dix published the survey results and submitted the copies of the results to the state legislature. She also travelled many other American states during this period in order to gather more information about the pathetic conditions of the insane people. “Before she arrived in Illinois, Dorothea Dix had already been instrumental in persuading state legislatures to accept responsibility for the insane by establishing state mental hospitals, first in her native state of Massachusetts in 1843, and then in several others”(Ebert, Ph.D. ) She succeeded in the culmination of the Bill for the Benefit of the Indigent Insane, (Making a grant of public lands to the several States for the benefit of indigent insane persons) with the help of her survey results. Dix's land bill passed both houses of Congress; however, President Franklin Pierce vetoed it in 1854. She was extremely dejected by the defeat of her land bill, and in 1855 she traveled to England and Europe. “When she was not working for the benefits of the poor, Dix’s opinions were politically conservative” (Muckenhoupt, p.93).Several criticisms were labelled against Dix for her stands against feminist movements and slavery. “Dix never joined the wider feminist movement or lent her public support to their cause” (I Tell What I Have Seen—The Reports of Asylum Reformer Dorothea Dix, p. 625). “Dix disliked social gatherings” (Colman, p.30). In short, Dix was a conservative in her life even though she world hard for the wellbeing poor. She was adamant on her beliefs and never tried to dilute her beliefs. “In her later years, Dix’s solitary travels were her life. She had no home, no fixed address at all. She made her reputation by constantly moving and she kept changing places at least monthly until she went her deathbed in New Jersey” (Muckenhoupt, p.7). On July 17, 1887, the end came for Dorothea Dix (Colman, p.127). To conclude, Dorothea Dix was one of the greatest American social reformers in the nursing history. She dedicated her life for the wellbeing of the mental patients or insane people. Even though she worked hard for the wellbeing of the poor and the insane people, she never supported the feminist movement or abolition of slavery. In any case, she is considered as one among the two greatest nurses of all time along with Nightingale in the nursing history. Works Cited 1. Colman, Penny. “Breaking the Chains: The Crusade of Dorothea Lynde Dix”.2007. Publisher: ASJA Press (March 29, 2007) 2. “Dorothea Dix, Forgotten Samaritan”. American Journal of Nursing: December 1937 – Volume 37 - Issue 12 - ppg 1441. Web. 07 February 2011. 3. Ebert, Thomas G. Ph.D. “Asylum, Prison, and Poorhouse: The Writings and Reform Work of Dorothea Dix in Illinois”. Web. 07 February 2011. 4. “I Tell What I Have Seen—The Reports of Asylum Reformer Dorothea Dix”. 2006. American Journal of Public Health. April 2006, Vol 96, No. 4 5. Muckenhoupt, Margaret. ”Dorothea Dix: Advocate for Mental Health Care”. 2004. Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (April 8, 2004) Read More