Mental Illness and the Consumer: A Brief History

The Surgeon General’s report of 1999 posits that mental illness and mental health are not polar opposites, but rather “points on a continuum.” Mental health, for normal people, is the ability to have meaningful relationships, cope with problems, function with energy in their daily activities, and live a full, meaningful life. Mental health consumers want to achieve these same goals, but are often stymied by depression, mania, and other symptoms of severe mental illness such as hallucinations and hearing voices in their minds.

The history of the way the mentally ill have been treated in society is interesting because it shows us progress, and in some cases, backward steps in the treatment of mental illness. For example, in medieval and Renaissance times, the mentally ill were often thought to be seers and mystics. It wasn’t until the 1700’s that people with mental illness were locked up in “asylums” and treated badly there (Surgeon General’s Report, 1999).

The 1999 Report of the Surgeon General goes on to discuss stigma as it relates to the past and present treatment of the mental health consumer. Stigma has its roots in stereotyping, bias, fear, distrust, and embarrassment. It is this stigma that leads to poor treatment of the mentally ill in the United States. The report goes on to say that in colonial times in this country, the mentally ill person was usually cared for by his or her family.

Urbanization in the nineteenth century led to the formation of “asylums” where those with brain disorders were scandalously treated. By the late nineteenth century, mental illness was thought to grow out of a “violation of those physical, mental, and moral laws” that if properly followed, would lead to a substantial development of the human race, and the highest “type of civilization” (cited in Grob, 1983). During these times, reformers sought to abolish the reigning harsh treatments for the mentally ill. This development of reformers led in time to the formation of what would later be called mental institutions, or psychiatric wards (Surgeon General’s Report, 1999).

National Mental Health Association (NMHA)

In the United States, in the 17th and 18th centuries, those with mental illness were thought to be demon-possessed or were called “lunatics.” These people underwent great suffering, both physical and emotional. Physical restraints, such as straitjackets and chains, were used on these patients in asylums. They were not only deprived of freedom, but of their dignity and pride.

In 1900, Clifford Beers, a Yale graduate and a businessperson who was quite young, suffered a breakdown and subsequent suicide attempt as a result of the death of his brother. He was put in a Connecticut psychiatric institution where he was subjected to physical and mental abuse at the hands of untrained and unenlightened staff. As a result of his experiences, Beers published a work called A Mind That Found Itself, an autobiography that chronicled his past as a mental health patient in 1908. He founded the Connecticut Society for Mental Hygiene, which set forth the following goals:

• To improve attitudes toward the mentally ill
• To improve services for the mentally ill
• To strive for the elimination or prevention of mental illness and to promote mental health

In 1930, Congress convened its First International Congress for Mental Hygiene, which had 3,042 “participants from forty-one countries.” So, the mission of the Mental Health Movement was well underway by Beers’ death in 1943. Three organizations merged together in 1930: the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, the National Mental Health Foundation, and the Psychiatric Foundation. Together they formed the National Association for Mental Health (NAMH).

In 1961, these three working organizations published, along with the Congress’ Joint Commission on Mental Illness and Mental Health, the report “Action for Mental Health,” a publication designed to improve mental health services. In 1979, the NAMH became the National Mental Health Association (NMHA). The passage of the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980 led to the widespread deinstitutionalization of consumers. The NMHA formed delegations on the insanity defense and the mental health of the country’s unemployed and homeless consumers. Today the NMHA is working toward the prevention of brain disorders. www.nmha.org/about/history.cfm

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