Mental Illness Diagnosis and Treatments of the Past and Present

The Minnesota State Hospital for the Insane, in St. Peter, was established in 1866 during the asylum era. This era was caused by industrialization and population growth, which created a need for expansion in the number of state hospitals and asylums. The mental hospitals were quickly filled with patients who suffered from a variety of different ailments in order to relieve the overcrowded jail systems. Some of the alleged causes of insanity during the late 1800‘s that would deem a person insane would not be considered that of an insane man today. As the field of psychology matured so did the understanding of diseases and cures of the mentally ill. The state hospitals started receiving fewer individuals who were not actually mentally ill. This enabled the hospitals to better attend to patients who actually needed to be institutionalized. This project analyzes the reason for admittance to Minnesota State Hospital during the late 1800‘s and late 1900‘s, as well as the treatments of mental disease during these two periods. The research will use annual reports from the hospital, newspapers, autobiographies, and other documents that the hospital recorded