Physical and Mental Health
- Suicide rate increase 30% between 1928 - 1932
- Dental visits were put off in order to save money
- Visiting the Doctor was for extreme emergencies … maybe not even then.
Physical and Mental Health
- Life expectancy was 58 - 62
- Why might the life expectancy decrease during economic crises?
- Living Conditions impacted life expectancy too:
- Poverty - > lack of proper sanitation = increased diseases from human waste
- Poverty - > no way to keep food cold = increased diseases from spoiled food
- Poor climate conditions ( Dust Bowl ) = increase in lung disease
- Material wealth once measured self worth - the depression forced many to sell their possessions
- Losing value in oneself = increase in mental disorders
Mental Health
- 3 times as many were admitted to mental hospitals than during regular times.
- New treatments such as insulin shock therapy and early forms of electroshock therapy
- Lobotomies removed part of the front lobe of the brain to alter behavior of patients
Mental Health & Eugenics
- The eugenics movement believed criminal tendencies were human traits and could be bred out of society
- Dr. Owens-Adair believed scientific and systematic sterilization of those who were feeble minded or deemed non-ideal for society would improve the human race and reduce the amount of criminals in the United States and end criminal tendencies.
- Forced sterilization was carried out on patients in mental hospitals and prisons.