The Mental Health Movement, 1949-1979

ISTORIANS OF THE FUTURE may mark the year 1978-1979 as the end of three decades of social experimentation that they may choose to call a reasonably peaceful revolution. A rich and prosperous country believed, or many of us did, that we could rehabilitate our enemies of World War II, placate our allies with money, and control the Soviets with threats and superiority of production. The health professionals and institutions, as is proper and inevitable, moved with the cultural tide. For those of us in the mental health professions, they were heady times. Investigations by science writers, such as Al Deutsch (1939) and Mike Gorman (1948; 1956), focused public and political attention on the ubiquitous nature of mental disorder and of mental distress, and on the regrettable tendency to reject and neglect affected patients. Official recognition resulted in the formation of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), reorganization of many state programs for detention, and treatment of the mentally ill. The National Governors Conference, as well as their component