Rare Photos Taken From Old Insane Asylums Show Their Harsh Conditions

Our understanding of our bodies and minds improves with every passing year. There are still many unanswered questions, and too many seemingly insurmountable medical challenges for comfort, but at least science is pointed towards answers. In decades and centuries past, illness both physical and mental was often treated in ineffective, inhumane and often destructive ways in old insane asylums. People with psychological conditions, especially, tended to be viewed as subhuman. These unfortunate souls were born in the wrong era, and their stories are heartbreaking.