Drapetomania: The Mental Illness of Freedom

How Slaves Wanting Freedom Was Pathologized in the USA

Psychiatry and psychology have long had an uneasy history of creating disorders and diseases which maintain the status quo of politics.

The Soviets used “sluggish schizophrenia” as a legitimate disorder to silence critics of the regime.

Indian freedom fighters were sometimes committed to mental asylums to “treat” their unending hunt for freedom.

Today I bring to you a similar story — a story from the Southern USA of the 19th century where psychiatry and “mental disorders” were used as a tool to ensure any resistance was shut down with the “paternalistic healing” offered by physicians of the time.

The Illness of Freedom

The story takes place in the period between 1815-1860 in Southern USA, called the “Antebellum period” of the South.

This was a period characterized by the extensive use of slaves in cotton fields and a pervasive view that slavery was good for everyone involved.

In case you don’t know, the slaves lived in terrible conditions and were often mistreated by their owners. Some were beaten, some were chained, and others were raped.

Naturally, no person will be happy with living in a condition such as this and would try to escape. Not just one person, but many people might try running away from this horrible way of life.

That’s where Samuel Cartwright, a famous physician came in.

Samuel A. Cartwright

He coined the term “drapetomania” to explain why slaves might try to escape to freedom.

The word literally means “runaway slave” and “madness”, to describe the simple association that might have occurred in Cartwright’s mind when creating the disorder.

Cartwright’s View on Slaves

Cartwright was a deeply religious man. He believed the word of God was final in terms of any discussions on how man should live with others.

He was also a very vehement racist.

He believed the black slaves were, by their nature, meant to “bend the knee” to their masters. He offered anatomical and religious explanations for his thesis

We see ‘ genu flexit ’ written in the physical structure of his [black slaves] knees, being more flexed or bent, than any other kind of a man

- Cartwright explaining why the blacks are “meant” to be slaves

Cartwright was certain that slavery was the natural state of black people. For him, anyone trying to change this “innate” truth about the blacks would be doing a great disservice to them.

This included the abolitionists trying to end the practice of slavery.

Two classes of persons were apt to lose their negroes; those who made themselves too familiar with them, treating them as equals, and making little or no distinction in regard to color; and, on the other hand, those who treated them cruelly…

- Samuel Cartwright

For Cartwright, abolitionists and cruel slaveowners were on the same pedestal. They were both harming the “natural” state of the black man

Healing Drapetomania

Cartwright’s proposed treatment for the illness of wanting freedom was simple. Give the basic amenities to your slaves to keep them satisfied but don’t get too close to them or treat them as equals.

He didn’t want black people to stand on their own feet, or for them to be beaten to the ground. He wanted them to remain the “knee-benders” that they are meant to be.

Not for one second, did it come across his mind that maybe the slaves were humans too who did not wish to remain in service of an owner throughout their life.

For him, the thought that a slave can be free, or should be free was a disservice to nature and God’s will itself. Surely, someone who wanted to do so must be insane!

Thankfully, the psychiatric classification of mental disorders has moved to being grounded in evidence rather than rhetoric to a degree but the problem still remains.

Cartwright in Modern Times

If you are active on any social media platform, you might see claims that a certain political ideology is no different from a mental disorder. Sometimes, it’s liberalism, sometimes, it’s fascism but the allure to declare the other side as “clinically insane” remains.

Politicians still use “visiting a psychiatrist/psychologist” as an insult to their opponents. The idea is not borne out of the stigma of mental illness but from the idea that there is something innately wrong with how the person thinks which needs “treatment”

Cartwright and his ideas may have been discarded long back but his way of thinking, and way of seeing people different from him, continues to prosper.

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Question of The Week

Can you think of similar cases where mental diagnoses have been used to shut down resistance or criticism? You can let me know your thoughts by replying to this email or in the comments :)

Until next time,

Arjun