General Material
Published Date
December, 2010
This video highlights the historical roots of the mental health consumer/survivor/ex-patient movement in the fight for women’s rights. Using the story of Elizabeth Packard, one of the early advocates for mental health reform, the video describes how throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, men could legally commit their wives to state hospitals without challenge or legal review. Psychiatric diagnoses were often used to control women or to deny them access to their children or their inheritance.
Associated Links
