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The 1st U.S. state hospital for mental illnesses, known as Eastern State Hospital, opens in Williamsburg, Virginia. Before this, families or poorhouses provided for those with mental illnesses, alongside individuals with physical ailments and other diseases. -
Philippe Pinel, a French physician, became the chief physician at Bicêtre, a men's asylum in Paris. He soon enacts reforms, such as unchaining the male charges in the asylum. Develops a more humane perspective of mental illness with a lens on social and psychological stressors, heredity, and physiological damage, as opposed to demonic possession. Often considered to have sparked the modern era of psychiatry. Philippe Pinel on Britannica -
Schoolteacher Dorothea Lynde Dix volunteers to teach a Sunday school class at the all-female East Cambridge Jail in Massachusetts. She became horrified at the mistreatment of the inmates, especially those with mental illnesses. This becomes a turning point where she advocates for the better treatment of these individuals, ultimately leading to the opening and expansion of over 30 state mental hospitals in the U.S. NIH -
Psychiatrist George L. Engel proposes a new model of disease that incorporates not only biological but also psychological, social, and behavioral components. This approach to medicine considers a patient's subjective experience of disease, enabling and encouraging a holistic approach to treatment and cures. George L. Engel in Science -
Former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy publishes a social connections advisory in response to an epidemic of loneliness. Based on personal experience, a nationwide listening tour, and compelling research, the publication aims to raise awareness, frame loneliness as a treatable condition, provide an individual and community-based framework for connection, alleviate stigma, and shift the culture toward prioritizing relationships and community.