By: Laci Petruccy, Insight Therapy B.A. in Psychology Intern

March is Women’s History Month, making it a great time to recognize women who were
important in the growth and development of our mental health field. Below are four women who have
contributed to the mental health field and contributed to its greater influence that we see in our society
today.

Nellie Bly
Nellie Bly was an American journalist who went undercover as a mentally ill patient in New
York mental asylums. By doing so, she uncovered and revealed to the world the terrible conditions those
in asylums faced. Not only was she a pioneer in the field of investigative journalism, but without her
work attention would not have been brought to the terrible conditions mentally ill patients live through.
Because of her, asylums became much more livable and steps were taken in order to improve the
conditions within asylums. In her later career, Bly published writings during WWI and brought attention
to issues that affected women at the time. Bly was a pioneer for the mentally ill and women during a time
when women had little opportunity to work like she did.
Source: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/nellie-bly-0

Margaret Naumburg
Margaret Naumburg was a psychotherapist in the 20th century who was one of the first people in
America to use art as a way of diagnosing and treating mental illness. She developed “dynamically
oriented art therapy” which uses a psychodynamic approach in order to bring out unconscious feelings
that can be expressed in art. While in modern times, this psychoanalytic idea of the unconscious has been mostly left in the past, her work has allowed the field of art therapy to develop into what it is today and opened up new ways of treatment for mental illness.
Source: https://www.goodtherapy.org/famous-psychologists/margaret-naumburg.html

Leta Hollingworth
Leta Hollingworth worked in the psychological lab at Bellevue Hospital where she studied mental
health in the context of women and gifted children. At the time, women were believed to be mentally
incapable during their menstrual cycle, but Hollingworth’s research found that women did not have a
decrease in performance of cognitive and motor functions while on their period. She also researched
highly intelligent children and developed ways to better help nurture and educate gifted children. Her
work allowed for the better treatment and understanding of gifted children and opened a door for
feminism within the field of psychology.
Source: https://feministvoices.com/profiles/leta-hollingworth

Inez Beverley Prosser
Inez Prosser was one of the first African American women to break down racial barriers in the
field of psychology by being the first African American woman to earn her Ph.D. in psychology. Prosser
did dissertation work on “Non-academic development of negro children in mixed and segregated schools”where she focused on non-academic variables that could influence the development of the children in these school settings. Tragically, Prosser passed away just a year after being awarded her doctorate degree, but nonetheless, she made history for women of color in the field of psychology.
Source: https://feministvoices.com/profiles/inez-beverly-prosser