Ancestors in the Insane Asylum

As far as I know, Nellie Bly is not an ancestor of mine, but her sensational expose of a New York mental hospital for women points up something that I have noticed in my research -- the frequency with which ancestors show up in the "insane asylum."

At first I thought this was just the result of having come across so many relatives. In any population of several hundred people, a few are bound to have psychological problems severe enough to warrant a hospital stay. But I think there may be something else at play. Perhaps the asylum covered a wider range of symptoms then than now.

Unfortunately, few of the records of people being removed to insane asylums include the diagnosis or other details. One relative, my great aunt Rosa, was arrested -- the charge was "insane." She was eventually released by the judge to her sister's care rather than to a hospital, but her brother was not as lucky. He spent time at a state mental hospital for being suicidal, morose, and "talking irrationally." This did not keep him out of the army when he was drafted in 1918.

At this point, I was feeling uneasy about possible genetic implications for my own mental health. Whether those feelings are warranted or not, it isn't just that side of the family that had difficulties. My husband's family tree also contained episodes of stays at the state hospital. A great grandfather on his mother's side and a great uncle on his father's side spent time in mental hospitals.

Are our families unusually susceptible? Or was the mental hospital operating as what now might be a combination rehab center and retreat/spa? Not to suggest that a state mental hospital would be a vacation, but if you didn't have the money to get away to the mountains or on a cruise, the stress of daily life might build up to unbearable levels. It was not unusual for someone struggling with alcoholism to be sent to a mental hospital, sometimes voluntarily, often not voluntarily. 

There was also the political mental patient -- Woodrow Wilson had several suffragists including Alice Paul sent to jail when they would not stop demonstrating for women's rights. When they went on a hunger strike, they were sent to an insane asylum to be force fed. 

Were they too quick to pack off someone to the insane asylum in the old days? How will our attitudes toward mental illness look in a hundred years?