"The Paradox of Prudence: Mental Health in The Gilded Age," written by Barbara Sicherman, discusses the work of "mental hygienists" and how they dealt with mental illnesses during the Gilded Age, a time when there was minimal knowledge of mental illnesses and how to treat them. Mental hygienists were neurologists and superintendents of mental institutions, and they were the closest thing to a psychiatrist, which did not exist during the 19th century. Most mental hygienists believed mental illnesses were incurable and caused by various factors, including feeling intense emotions, as mental hygienists believed "the healthy person had complete control over his emotions" (Sicherman). Another possible factor in mental illness is being overly ambitious