Today is World Mental Health Day. It's also the birthday of Rhoda Derry, who was born in 1834 and is the subject of a new biography entitled 44 Years in Darkness: A True Story of Madness, Tragedy and Shattered Love. A local author relates the painful tale of the Illinois woman who suffered through decades of mental illness and disfiguring self-abuse while institutionalized.
Writer Sylvia Shults became fascinated with the story of Rhoda Derry when Shults began writing about paranormal activity at the Peoria State Hospital. A native of Adams County, Illinois, Derry had long been rumored to be one of the ghosts that haunts the long-closed asylum for the mentally ill, where Derry had been a patient more than one hundred years ago. As Shults began researching the life of Rhoda Derry, she uncovered a story of sadness and suffering, of deep and unresolved mental illness. And it all started when 16-year old Rhoda Derry fell in love with the boy-next-door, Charles Phoenix.
According to Shults' research, the boy's mother was determined to separate them, and so told Derry that she'd placed a curse upon her. The horror experienced by the impressionable girl lead immediately to a breakdown. "She swore that there were invisible witches flying around the Derry cabin," said Shults. "And she would cower in terror on the floor, screaming about these witches that were attacking her."
In modern terms, Shultz said Derry was likely suffering from adjustment disorder, which often affects young people, in particular teens. "While not as severe as PTSD, it's related to it. There is one specific instance that causes a great amount of stress, which leads to depression, self-harm, sometimes hallucinations."
Derry was institutionalized for her ongoing illness, eventually ending up in an alms house, where she received food and shelter, but no treatment. According the Shults, Derry had violent outbursts, so she was confined to what's called a Utica Crib, a cage-like bed. Derry's mental condition deteriorated to the point where she knocked out her own teeth and even gouged out her own eyes. She was confined for two decades before being brought to the Peoria State Hospital for treatment by Dr. George Zeller. Shults said Derry died at the hospital in the early part of the 20th century, finally finding an institution that would treat her with kindness, and that Dr. Zeller held Derry up as an example of why state hospitals for the mentally ill were necessary, so that those who were sick could receive proper care, rather than simple be shunted aside.
