History of Psyhiatric Threatment in United States Essay

History of Psyhiatric Threatment in United States - Essay Example Before looking to present efforts to mental illness, it is important to look to the history of the historical efforts to challenge this issue in the United States. Before World War 2, people with mental illness in the colonial America were taken care of by their families or secluded caregivers. Those who were not taken care of by either of these were taken care of by the native community. According to McKenzie, Pinger, and Kotecki, population growth in the 1700s led to the institutionalization of people with mental illness (2011). Although they began institutionalization, the houses they were housed in were exceptionally dilapidated. The conditions deteriorated in the end of the 1700s and 1800s due to growth in populace, which led to increase in number of people with mental illness. This resulted in the building of Pennsylvania mental infirmity hospital by Doctor Thomas Bond in 1751 as an effort to disconnect these people according to the type of the disability (Niles, 2010). The con ditions in this institution were inferior because the caregivers were unable to reinforce patients for self-control, and this resulted to physical restrictive practical. Susceptible funding by the government to these institutions discouraged their health workers; therefore, treatment and care of the mentally ill became nearly non-existent. However, by 1940, population growth in the states’ mental institutions declined funding by the government and few workers resulted to only survival care being provided to people suffering from mental illness. To solve these problems, there was an introduction of electroconvulsive therapy and lobotomy treatments (Portal, Suck and Hinkle, 2010). In electroconvulsive treatment, convulsions were produced in the patient by use of electric current which is in use to date due its convenience, whereas, in lobotomy the nerves fibers of the brain are detached by surgical cut (Sundararaman, 2009). However, it was after Moniz won the Nobel Prize that t he lobotomy practices became famous, though, it was made irrelevant by the introduction of antipsychotic and anti-depressive drugs in 1950s. After World War 2, several factors led to government involvement in mental illness care. National hope for mentally ill people, military experts and civilian testaments led to passage of act of National mental health, which established NIMH. The reasons why the NIMH was established were to nurture and assist investigation associated to the cause, analysis and neuropsychiatric illnesses (Wendy, 2007). To provide training and give grants to people who were working in mental institutions, and, to assist the government on deterrence and handling of people with mental illness. This era was still characterized by deinstitutionalization of people who were suffering from mental illness that resulted to less care being taken to them. According to Wendy, in 1950s, the public got involved in the conditions of mental ill people and this led to new approach es of attending to mentally ill people (2007). These improved the treatment of mental ill people because many organizations emerged and later merged to work as one in funding their treatments. In 1980s, augmentation of poor homeless people in US resulted to an increase in populace of the mentally ill. This was solved by passage of parity legislation, which gave mental ill people equal coverage like any other person. This was