Concealed Insanity: Protestant Conceptions of Mental Maladies

Abstract

From the colonial era to the twentieth century American Protestants professed to care for the well-being of bodies, minds, and souls, but those living with mental illnesses often received minimal attention. Through a focus on five paradigmatic figures (Cotton Mather, Benjamin Rush, Dorothea Dix, Anton Boisen, and Karl Menninger), this dissertation first explores the history of the Protestant church and mental maladies in America. While leaders like those profiled proved engaged attending to mental illness, I argue that, developing over three centuries, two analytically distinct forces combined to inhibit broader Protestant attention to their stated mission to care for the whole person. First, the social stigma surrounding mental illness deepened and linked mental maladies with weakness and deviance in ways that prompted concealment and avoidance. Stigma resulted both from rising confidence in humankind’s ability to solve problems and the persistence of theological notions that linked mental maladies with sin. Second, shifting professionalization sequestered clergy authority in the private, spiritual sphere, leaving healing as the responsibility of secular medical professionals. After tracing how social stigma and shifting professionalization inhibited Protestant responses to mental illness, I reflect theologically and explore Christian hospitality as an antidote to stymied reactions. I assert that the practice of hospitality—through acts of welcome, compassion, incorporation, and patience—counters stigma and clears the way for more faithful and attentive care for the suffering that results from mental maladies.