The Moral Treatment of Washington Willits
Manage episode 429132078 series 3472533
Mental health care in the 1800s wasn't always a hellscape of overcrowded asylums filled with patients chained to floors and beds. In the 1840s and 1850s, a new treatment paradigm called "the moral treatment movement" offered patients dignity, respect, individualized treatment plans and creative outlets. One Birmingham man, Washington Willits, was described as coming home from the premier moral treatment facility, the Utica Insane Asylum in New York, when he tragically died. Who was Washington and what might have his life and treatment at Utica looked like?
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19 episodes