Medical Malpractice

Why were people admitted into insane asylums in 1800s?

Okay, I found a lot of info on the insane asylums of the 1800's, finally. But I just need a website of info for why people were admitted into it. I need a good quote but don't have papers with good quotes for why they were... (:

Public Comments

1. Because they were INSANE . . . . . Back then, there were no meds to take to help people .. . . so they just locked them up. Some people locked family members in attics, or basements. The wife of Abrahamm Lincoln was nutty BEFORE he was assassinated, but she really went fruit loops after. She was never seen in public pretty much after that. Dan in Miami
2. In the "old times" people were locked up because mental illness was still often understood in primitive biblical terms, some people actually believed that such people might be possessed by demons. Fortunately medical science has taken those old tales and has investigated them, proven them to be superstitions and found that the brain and it's actions are composed of hundreds of millions of electrochemical neuron responses which can be measured and in cases when the brain functions in a less than beneficial manner, can often be treated.
3. Early on in the 1800's until well into the 50's and 60's, people did not understand mental illness or disease either. Autism was never diagnosed so those children were considered to be insane. That word, insane, covered a lot of bases back then. Asylums were filled with people that were misdiagnosed, it's what they did because they knew of nothing else. Well before1800, people were being burned at the stake because they were considered witches or heretics. A true lack of understanding was the norm then.
4. I heard back then a lot of people got food borne illness because of food sitting out and flys and things not getting cooked properly and it could make some people seem crazy and Im sure locking them up was all they could do. They didn't have meds then like we do now.