5. Patients Were Admitted Against Their Will
Imagine that you are a farmer’s wife in the 1920s. You work long hours, your husband is likely a distant and hard man, and you are continually pregnant to produce more workers for the farm. Your husband’s family are hard working German immigrants with a very rigid and strict mindset. You come from a Norwegian family and are more liberal-minded. You do not immediately acquiesce to your husband’s every command and attempt to exert some of your own will in the management of the farmstead. Your mother-in-law does not care for your attitude or behavior. She worries you’ll be a bad influence on her grandchildren. She picks you up one day and tells you she is taking you to the dentist for a sore tooth you’ve had. Going with her, she instead takes you to the large state-run mental asylum in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has you removed from her son’s life through involuntary commitment.
While this reads like an excerpt from a mystery or horror novel, it is one of many real stories of involuntary commitment from the early 20th century, many of which targeted wayward or “unruly” women. The vast majority of the patients in early 20th century asylums were there due to involuntary commitment by family members or spouses.