The nineteenth century saw many medical breakthroughs (see last
post), and the public and doctors alike began to think that
science could solve all human ailments. Doctors saw that better
sanitation and hygiene during the Civil War helped prevent
disease,and alienists began to hope that the same strides could
be achieved through mental hygiene. Dr. Isaac Ray, a very
powerful and prominent insane asylum superintendent, defined
mental hygiene (in part) as “preserving the mind against all
incidents and influences calculated to deteriorate its
qualities.” Isaac and others involved in the mental hygiene
movement believed that if people could live in a situation and
atmosphere that promoted mental health, they would either not
fall ill in the first place, or the symptoms might not be as
severe. Stress, urbanization, poverty, and industrialization
were considered major players in undermining mental health, and
these mental health hygienists emphasized the importance of
proper rest, diet, exercise, education, self-di