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Dorothea Dix Accomplishments

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Abstract
“In a world where there is so much to be done, I felt strongly impressed that there must be something for me to do” this quote was given by the woman who changed the field of human services and mental health. Dorthea Dix’s had one goal and that was to help people. Her dedication to the well-being and treatment of mentally ill patients spread for reform. Not only did her accomplishments cause major changes in the nineteenth century; her changes are still being felt today with how mentally ill patients are treated.

Early Life
Dorothea Lynde Dix was born April 4, 1802, in Hampden, Maine. She was the first child of three born to Joseph Dix and Mary Bigelow. When she was young her father taught her how to read and write, which sparked …show more content…

During this time it was believed that the mentally ill could not be cured or helped, therefore, they were placed in poorhouses or prisons. It was in her observation that she witnessed the cruelty and neglectful treatment of caging, incarceration, without clothing, and chained in a filthy, cold cell just because they were mentally ill. Dix then conducted a thorough investigation statewide and submitted her findings to the Massachusetts legislature. On March 25, 1845, legislation passed a bill to establish a state facility for the mentally ill and indigent. Dix was not content just to reform the state of Massachusetts, so she took her quest across the country documenting the conditions and treatment of patients, advocating for facilities for the mentally ill and founding or expanded hospitals in Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Maryland, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina. In 1848 Dix challenged Congress to pass a bill that would improve or build facilities for the mentally ill. Congress passed a bill called, Bill for the Benefit of the Indigent Insane, which set aside 12,225,000 acres of land to be used for the benefit of the mentally ill, the blind, and deaf. Even though the bill was vetoed by President Pierce in 1854 the lasting impression of better quality and

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