Pioneers in Mental Health
By Kelly
Little was understood about mental illness in the Middle Ages. Sufferers were viewed either as eccentric or possessed by demons. The high point of abuse, however, actually came in the 1600s and it was just then that early Quakers began to counter the conventional wisdom.
Perhaps it was Friends’ experience with prisons that led them to carry a concern for the mentally ill locked up in poor houses, asylums, churches, or even private homes. George Fox was jailed eight times and Margaret Fell twice for espousing beliefs different from the state church of England. Hundreds of Quakers languished in English jails in these early days.
By 1668 George Fox was advising Friends to open houses for “those that are
distempered” and Friend John Goodson did just that. In the 1790s Quaker Physician William Tuke pioneered a new philosophy that was called ‘Moral Treatment.’ In his country retreat for Quakers there were no restraints or physical punishment. Instead, the focus was on restoring self-esteem and self-control to patients which included walks, farm chores, as well as sewing and knitting, early examples of occupational therapy. Across the pond, in 1813, Thomas Scattergood established the Philadelphia Friends’ Asylum where each patient had a private room with a window. Although the treatment offered included cold baths and experiments with electric shock, it was decidedly more humane than other institutions of the time.
In the 20th century, the fledgling American Friends Service Committee was instrumental in establishing conscientious objection as a legal option for Friends in the US and UK who refused service in either of the two world wars. COs were able to choose some kind of community service such as working in asylums for the insane rather than being jailed. This close-up view of the horrible conditions and outright abuse led them to want to expose what they had seen. At the same time new treatments such as Thorazine opened opportunities for change and many asylums began to close in favor of outpatient treatment.
There has been some speculation as to whether or not George Fox himself – as well as other early Quakers – may have suffered from some form of mental illness. In 1902 in his book, the Varieties of Religious Experience, the American psychologist William James wrote, “religious geniuses have often shown signs of nervous instability. There can be no better example than the one furnished by George Fox.” James was not criticizing Fox, however; he went on to say that the Quaker religion Fox founded “is impossible to overpraise.”
(Adapted from a presentation at Meeting for Learning on August 17.)