6 Female Mental Health Heroes You Should Know This Women’s History Month
As the saying goes, we stand on their shoulders.
When you think of pioneers in the field of mental health, who do you think of? The first face that jumps into my head is that of Sigmund Freud, father of psychoanalysis and many a slip. Countless women, including Freud’s own daughter, have made equally important contributions in this arena as well, and I thought as we ease into Women’s History Month, it might be nice to have a little refresher on a few of the sheroes of mental health.
Nellie Bly: Bly (born Elizabeth Jane Cochran) is always a crowd favorite. An investigative journalist, after hearing of the horrible conditions for patients at a New York State asylum, she posed as insane in order to get herself admitted. After for 10 days as an inpatient, Bly wrote about her experiences in an exposé for New York World. Her report was the catalyst for lasting and widespread mental health reform and was later published in book form as Ten Days In A Mad-House.
Anna Freud: Did you know that Sigmund’s daughter pushed for an expanded focus on children’s mental health, among other things? Anna Freud was a brilliant psychologist and a pioneer in the field of child psychoanalysis both in Vienna and in London after leaving Austria during World War II.
