The social role of municipalities in mental health policy.

: In recent years, there has been an increasing number of cases of intolerance and rejection on the part of communities in which attempts have been made to establish housing for the mentally ill. This illustrates to what extent strategies promoting local involvement are absent and were never designed to coincide with deinstitutionalization. The result is that zoning has become an instrument of discrimination despite declarations to the contrary made by government. As a result, municipalities must become involved in the process of attitudinal change. On the same note, mental health workers must get involved politically in order to reduce the emphasis placed on utilitarian and individualistic approaches.