In the 1930s, people with mental illnesses faced a lot of social judgment and isolation. This was mainly because many people didn’t understand their conditions. Many communities thought those with mental health challenges were dangerous or weak. Edward Shorter points out that “the general public regarded mental illness with fear and often contempt, seeing it as a deviation from social norms” (Shorter 1997). Because of this lack of understanding, many people with mental health issues were either sent to asylums or rejected by their families.
The way society treated people in asylums really showed how they felt about mental illness. Conditions in these asylums were often terrible. Historian A.J.P. Taylor notes that “asylums during this period were overcrowded and underfunded, leading to inhumane conditions and a focus on containment rather than care” (Taylor 2021). Many people with mental illnesses were not just isolated from society, but they also had to deal with extremely poor living conditions in the asylums.
This situation made a cycle of judgment and false ideas about mental illness. Because the general public saw mental illness through fear and ignorance, it was even harder for those who needed help to get the support they required. This created a cycle of shame and isolation for people with mental disabilities, preventing them from getting the understanding and help they truly needed.