"Suffered As Women Do"

Aug. 1, 2023 through Mar. 1, 2025
National Museum of Psychology, Special Exhibit Gallery

“But I at last had a regular attack of what the doctors called nervous prostration or spinal irritation. At any rate, I lay in bed for many months and suffered as women do – from backaches and headaches, and pains boring into the base of my skull.”
- Anonymous, 1896

“Suffered as Women Do”: Gender and Treatment in U.S. Asylums explores women’s experiences in 19th and 20th century asylums and state hospitals. Drawing on reports prepared annually by administrators and first-person narratives of women’s lived experiences, this exhibit reveals the ways in which gender played a role in mental health institutions, including diagnoses, treatment, and daily life. Curated by Lacy Nicholas, a Museums & Archives Studies Certificate student at The University of Akron.