@consciouslycait: No but seriously… women really WERE institutionalized for behaviour that didn't align with society's expectations of how women should behave. welcome back to women’s health horror stories!!! SO let’s look at a horrifying bit of history together: in the 19th century, women could find themselves committed to psychiatric institutions for challenging their husbands, refusing to conform to traditional gender roles or displaying emotions + behaviours considered inappropriate. even reading too much, pursuing an education, having menstrual cycle issues (what they called period derangement) or experiencing menopause could be framed as evidence of mental instability 🫠 FAST FORWARD to the 20th century… lobotomies became a treatment for a wide range of psychiatric conditions. the procedure involved deliberately damaging connections in the brain's frontal lobes, sometimes leaving patients with devastating + irreversible consequences. and of course… women were disproportionately subjected to them. by 1942, approximately 75% of lobotomies performed by American physicians Walter Freeman + James Watts had been on women. in one documented case, a woman complained that she'd lost her spontaneity after surgery, while her husband praised the changes, declaring her “more normal than she had ever been.” MORE NORMAL??? according to WHO??? at a time when women were expected to be quiet, cooperative + devoted to domestic responsibilities, those expectations could influence both psychiatric diagnoses AND what was considered successful treatment. While it is true that not every woman institutionalized was there because she challenged social norms, and lobotomies weren't performed simply for speaking your mind, gender and societal expectations absolutely shaped women's experiences of psychiatric care. what would you be sent to the asylum for!?

Cait | fam educator

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Thursday 29 October 2026 17:50:32 GMT