In the late 1800’s, an idea was conceived that would later shape a movement in psychiatry. It was thought that people carried “germ plasm”, and that these “undesirables” should be kept out of the gene pool. In the wake of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, psychiatry took a turn for the worse. It was in fact the half cousin of Charles Darwin, Francis Dalton, that in 1883 coined the term eugenics. His was a science of breeding and narrowing the gene pool. It was thought that within a few generations of keeping the poor, the criminals and the mentally ill out of the gene pool, a better race of man would be created. Francis Dalton was born in 1822 to a wealthy family. He was raised in Birmingham, England. In 1844 Francis’ father passed away leaving his son enough money so that he would not need to worry about making a living. Francis became an explorer and scientist. Upon reading his cousin’s work, he proposed that doctors and policy makers must expedite natural selection. He said “what nature does blindly, slowly and ruthlessly, man can do providently, quickly and kindly.” His idea to restrict the reproductive practices of man spawned mass murder, sterilization and involuntary commitment. It was anything but kind. It took a few years from the birth of the concept of eugenics for the movement to begin. Francis published Hereditary Genius in 1869. “Could not the undesirables be got rid and the desirables be multiplied”, he pleaded. This was answered in the United States with Connecticut being the first state to prohibit the mentally ill from marrying just before the turn of the century. A short time later, Indiana legalized the sterilization of the mentally ill. The United States was the first nation to begin the sterilization of mental patients. At this time, the beginning of the 20th century, that eugenics came to the forefront of psychiatry. Of all those declared to be unfit to reproduce or even be integrated in society, it was the mentally ill who were deemed the most unfit. It was the mentally ill that were involuntarily committed, sterilized, and put to death. It was psychiatry that took the lead that would usher in one of the most grim periods in the history of man. A eugenicist and New York lawyer, wrote the book that would become Adolf Hitler’s bible. In Hitler’s Germany, some 70,000 who were considered mentally ill were put to death. And 375,000 were sterilized. It was this extreme stance on the status and treatment of the mentally ill that would finally awaken the public. Extracts Read More ➤ Photo by Vermont Views Magazine
Posted on: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 18:15:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015