Chicago’s Inter Ocean Newspaper

Mental illness can still be a touchy subject today, but society has made great advances in de-stigmatizing its discussion. We look back on the shame and secrecy surrounding mental illness in earlier times and wonder at it, but families may have had good reason to keep a loved one’s condition secret. Today we have enough privacy concerning our medical status that it can be difficult to find out if a friend is in the hospital, but in centuries past, a person’s condition could be discussed in the newspaper. Here are two examples from 1897 issues of Chicago’s Inter Ocean:

Catherine T. is 56, and has been a terror to her family for seventeen years, or since the birth of her last child. Her doctor testified that she was something like a wild cat, when he was called in to see her; has been ill for six months, her husband thinking at first it was temper from her scolding so much. . .The woman was sent to an asylum, and although no last name was used, neighbors certainly could figure out who it was.

Newspaper Accounts Spared Few Details

Catherine L. is about 35; she never speaks except under provocation, then she throws things at the head of any one within reach, and calls vile names, her language being very rough; talks to herself, and is often furious; she threatened to throw a burning lamp at a neighbor; her best friend seems to be herself, with whom she talks and laughs. . .

Public Care for the Insane Was Not Always Better Than That Provided at Home

The unsympathetic tone of these snippets, along with publicly printing such embarrassing details, would make any family–at least in that day and age–anxious to hush up a relative’s awkward behavior.