Numerous suicides are present within the novel Bleak House, but are not considered or presented from a mental health perspective. This is due to the development of the psychology field taking place in the later 19th century. Mentally ill or suicidal patients were transported and housed in the demoralizing and dehumanizing asylums, and many never recovered, but terminated their misery through suicide. These patients were not addressed in proper medical accordance to their mental states, but instead addressed as the hopeless of society. Through reform entering into the 20th century, medical and more moral practices evolved with the advancement in psychological and medical knowledge and implementation of legislative acts. This evolution culminated with the Mental Health Act of 1959, which eradicated any immoral detention methods and allowed for full transition of mental health issues to be treated as medical issues. The evolution of mental health, as it pertains to Bleak House and the presence of suicide, demonstrates how mental health and suicide has transformed in how it is perceived by society. The characters who were closely linked to the characters who committed suicide were most certainly haunted by these occurrences, but did not know how to interpret them or even intervene with these individuals, on a level psychological stability. From Victorian Era lack, thereof of knowledge to modern awareness, time has been the benefactors for mental health and suicide awareness.

 Turner, John, et al. “The History of Mental Health Services in Modern England: Practitioner Memories and the Direction of Future Research.” Medical History, vol. 59, no. 4, 2015, pp. 599–624. Crossref, doi:10.1017/mdh.2015.48.