Benjamin was born December 24, 1745 in Pennsylvania. Benjamin’s father was an addict to alcohol. John Rush (Benjamin’s dad) died at the age of 39. Benjamin was 6 when it happened and his mom had to supply for him by becoming the owner of a grocery store in Philadelphia Benjamin was curious why his dad died at such a young age Not only that, his dad acted weird whenever he drank alcohol and it ruined his relationship with his wife. Rush entered the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) in 1759. He got a degree in medicine in 1768 and even wrote “On the Digestion of Food in the Stomach,” as proof of what he had learned. Some time later he decided to use his 9 years of medicine training and help the poor. A few years had passed and he had become a professor at a College of Physicians. He held major lectures about medicine and his theories on it. He believed that there were only 2 forms of the excited nervous state people get. Healthy, and Morbid. The morbid excitement came from blood cells and would range from fear to insanity. He also found that this would happen to people who had brandy or wine a lot. He pushed his ideas out to the public and was able to help people with the outbreak of yellow fever. In 1812 he published Medical Inquiries and Observations upon the Diseases of the Mind. This book secured him as the Father of American Psychiatry. He made a couple of enemies to, mostly people who didn’t agree with him and his ideas. In 1813, Rush fell ill with a fever and died five days later in his home in Philadelphia. He was praised highly for his writing and theories by the likes of his wife and kids. Even Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went and paid their respects. Rush even signed the Declaration of Independence in his lifetime. Now I know he isn’t as talked about as other famous heroes but his story deserves to be told. Without him Medicine wouldn’t be where it is today. His theories and hypothesis helped pave the way for modern medicine, he more than deserves his title as the Father of American Psychiatry
Marvel https://archives.upenn.edu/exhibits/penn-people/biography/benjamin-rush/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1312212/#:~:text=Benjamin%20Rush%20was%20born%20December,a%20grocery%20store%20in%20Philadelphia.
