Asylums in America flourished during the 19th century.

If a person was believed to have

a mental illness, and continuously disrupted the neighborhood, they would be sent to a hospital
ward for the mentally ill. When the hospitals became overcrowded in the 19th century, they
made institutions that would be called Asylums. The law decided that asylums would have no
more than 250 patients at a time, unfortunately they would carry up to 3,500 people with only
600 workers. The inhumane treatment of the patient was the biggest problem with asylums.
The patients would experience brutal experimentation on them, caused by nurses who were not
correctly trained. This is because local doctors would refuse to operate in mental institutions
due to health issues and the lack of proper equipment. The picture shown is a procedure done
frequently in these institutions. The lobotomy was believed to cure mental illnesses such as
bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, as well as others. Many other procedures were done,
usually ending in
types of brain
damage and more
mental illness.