Dorothea Dix was born in a tiny village, but as she was an avid reader and faster learner. she was taken to Boston by her grandmother to continue her education there.
At the age of nineteen she established the School for Girls there.
Since there was no lack of students and the school provided a good source of income, she was able to took her brother to Boston too.
Also, this time she wrote some books for children, which were one of the first ones.
But then things changed and she was forced to close the school, because of her condition of health.
Several years later, when she came to England after recovering in Italy, she met Samuel Tuke, who influenced her viewpoints on life.
It was Samuel Tuke, who told her about various methods for taking care of the mentally ill.
When she worked a teacher at prisons in the USA, she was shocked to see those conditions in which mentally ills were housed.
Their cells were filthy, miserable and brutal.
She arose concern for the problem of housing mentally ills, that afterwards led to passing laws to improve conditions.
When WW2 broke out, she was about 60, but she also helped people.
At first, it was not accustomed to female nurses, but Dorothea Dix convinced that women could perform this work acceptably.
After the war, Dorothea Dix resumed to her life’s work.
She proposed to federal government to use the income from public land to help houses for mentally ill people.
Dorothea Dix was a person who truly turned people’s attention to the problem of mentally illness.
November 2016
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