The Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill - Article Example

The generous attitude that people of American society had towards the mentally ill changed at the beginning of the 20th Century and was replaced by a stout feeling that the mentally ill were carriers of defective germ plasma. This is the key thesis of these articlesThe purpose of this study is to highlight factors that promoted this discrimination. The authors reveal to the reader the role that was played by the books, and other forms of media, that purported to present scientific approaches in their arguments.

This purpose has a far-reaching effect considering that the author illustrates in the article, the consequences of the mentioned actions. Some of the examples that the authors give include how such a scientific view of mental illness resulted in discrimination by the Nazis which eventually resulted in the holocaust, even in the watch of the American government. This article presents painless lessons on how humanity was eroded and how “scientific” revelation delineated people. The authors systematically reveal how this kind of discrimination started by pointing how researches were conducted, such as The Rise of Eugenic.

Here the authors have tried to demonstrate the works of Francis Galton. The authors illustrate how eugenics gained popularity in America in the 20th Century; the Mendelian madness, which prompted sterilization. The articles take a different turn when Abraham Myerson presents a new role of psychiatry in handling the mentally ill.