Discuss the evolution of the treatment of people who are mentally ill in America, from colonial times to today.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

For most of colonial times up until the late 1700s, people with mental illnesses were left to their own devices or imprisoned as criminals. In 1773, mental "hospitals" of a sort began to appear, but their "treatments" are seen today as torture at worst and unhelpful at best. Indeed, institutionalization has often carried an element of criminalization. Suicide remained a felony in some states until the 1990s. In the 1960s, deinstitutionalization started to become the dominant movement, shifting the burden for much mental health care to community mental health centers (CMHCs). While perhaps well intentioned, deinstitutionalization has left some people without needed help or resources and increased homelessness of the mentally ill. Medicalization of mental illness is another controversial topic.