Mental health was not viewed the same way we do today. In fact, for many centuries, people believed that suffering with a mental illness was a religious problem, not a medical one. People with mental illness were often considered possessed with demons inside of them, especially in the Middle Ages. This view of having a mental illness and being "possessed" has caused great damage to the dignity of all those suffering with mental illness. However, as time goes on, this damage is slowly healed by the understanding of what mental illness actually is.

Even though the stigma of mental illness was still very prevalent in the American colonies, there were some ideas that shifted. When a person was struggling with mental health, though it was still considered a religious problem, the mentally ill person was sent to live with their family to be cared for. They were called "dependents," and the colonists saw it as their duty to help their loved ones. Mental illness was no longer viewed as a personal problem that was self-inflicted, but instead mental illness was thought to be what God intended for them. The responsibility of care moved from society to the family unit, therefore changing the idea that mental illness was no longer a societal problem but now a familial one.

The 1700s brought about a new way to take care of people struggling with mental illness: institutions. Families caring for relatives with mental health issues at home was not always sustainable, so they were grouped together in institutions. After some time, society saw them as "undeserving" of these institutions and instead of being a place to help those with mental illness, they were used as a place to protect society from them. The stigma surrounding mental health as we know it today was beginning to affect society. Patients struggling with mental illness were separated from patients with physical illness in hospitals, and often were placed in units with terrible conditions and subjected to mistreatment, such as being restrained.

After seeing the mistreatment of patients struggling with mental illnesses in hospitals and institutions, one advocate set out to help this group of people. Dorothea Dix, born in Hampden, Maine, was a great advocate for those suffering with mental illness. While she was young, Dorothea suffered abuse at the hands of her parents and moved to Boston to stay with her grandmother, where she attended school and became a teacher. However, Dix was prone to getting extremely sick, and she was forced to stop teaching because of it. During a trip to Europe, she met others who were committed to changing the delivery of care for mentally ill people. When she returned to the United States, Dix began her advocacy by visiting prisons and institutions and saw first hand how horrendous the conditions were. To help, Dix wrote to politicians about the poor standard of care the patients were receiving and demanded better care for them. Not all of her letters were well-received, but Dix was not deterred. She did not stop until she got results and funds were put aside to build better institutions. Dorothea Dix's advocacy resulted in the government building 32 new mental health facilities with more livable conditions for patients with mental health issues.

Although Dix was able to get better standards of living for patients in mental health wards, the dignity of these patients was extremely violated throughout the early to mid-1900s. In order to "cure" them, these patients underwent many invasive treatments, such as lobotomies, insulin shots, and electroshock therapy. These "treatments" were forced onto patients without consent, and truly showed the cruelty of the system and dehumanization of people with mental health problems.

After World War II, anti-psychotic drugs were developed. These drugs helped patients in mental health wards and replaced the older, crude "treatments". This was the first genuine step in helping people struggling, and this trend continues to today.