Historical Perspectives on the Care and Treatment of the Mentally Ill

Abstract

Examines the history of mental illness and its treatment focusing on the cycle of mental health reform movements. It is noted that as reform movements became popular, they experienced brief success, but ultimately regressed as new philosophies emerged. The early history of treatment for mental illness includes banishment to ships of fools, European asylums, and institutions run by the states in America. Recent history focuses on the National Committee for Mental Hygiene and its campaign for child guidance clinics, community mental health center legislation, and deinstitutionalization. Evidence of the genetic and biological roots of mental illness and advocacy organizations composed of mental patients and their families are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)