Essay on Mental Health Movement Focusing on Deinstitutionalization

The government of President Kennedy had established a pristine hope for what was in store especially in mental health. His untimely death, however, marked the start of a bleak time and a moment of incertitude among Americans of all walks. A renaissance of freedom and the quest for a renewed pursuit of happiness was in the making for this unrecognized part of society. President Kennedys administration was charismatic and full of imagination for the inauguration of a never seen before frontier in the treatment of mental illness. It was, despite the presence of remnants from the dark ages that were full of stigma and prejudice towards the mentally ill as Curtler states, This new youthful and progressive administration had the imagination and the charisma to launch a new frontier of thinking regarding the treatment of mental illness and maintenance of mental health in spite of continued remnants of the dark ages in terms of stigma that faced persons with mental illness back then, (Curtler 382). It, therefore, was an indication of the value President Kennedy placed on mental health.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The multiplex history of the issue goes back centuries before. Research indicates that in 1963 people had paucity in the biopsychosocial understanding concerning the issue and treatment was therefore delimited to psychotherapy and chlorpromazine. The cases of severe mental illness were initially experienced in the hospital or ended up in these medical facilities. There was a condemnation by the Joint Commission of Mental health concerning state hospitals and mental illness, but those affected had limited alternatives. The Kennedy administration experienced a hard time trying to woo the Congress into passing the Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act. It took an unprecedented period, but the president finally signed the act on the 31st of October in 1963.

The move was a resplendent milestone in issues of mental health in the United States, and it insinuated a great invigoration in addressing mental illness. There was, however, another deterrent in the quest for coherent mental health care where the Congress did not assent to funds that were to be utilized in paying staff to work in the cutting-edge mental health institutions. They jilted this responsibility to the Johnson administration. October 1963 was, however, a remarkable turning point in matters mental health and it seems better close to five decades later. The milestones in the mental health sector are extremely impressive in light of the more than fifty-thousand psychiatrists, more than five-hundred nurses in mental health and the more than three hundred psychologists who predominantly work towards the well-being of mentally ill patients.

With the retraction and preferment in mental health care came the issue of long-stay mental health institutions especially in the late 19th century. It precipitated the debate concerning institutionalized and non-institutionalized care for the mentally ill patients. During this time several psychiatrists including Thomas Kirkbride, Eric Lindeman and later on Gerald Caplan instituted myriad concepts concerning the principles of preventive psychiatry that formed the thrust of the community mental health movement. President Franklin inaugurated the National Mental Healthcare Act which aimed at emplacing hospitals that were federally controlled. The gist was predominantly on the military personnel who encountered various psychological effects from the war and required mental health care. The Mental Healthcare Act led to the constitution of the National Institute of Mental Health which acted as a research hub and a financing force for mental health programs.

The NIMH became a substantial source of research and technical assistance that was worthwhile in finding staff for the new entities that were now dealing with mental health. The community mental health centers were therefore born in the 1950s as a result of various advancements that occurred in the mental health sector. There was a significant increase in the number of patients in mental health hospitals which went to over half a million individuals. There was, however, a decrease in this number in the years that followed. As Talbott explains, many people transitioned from institutionalized care to deinstitutionalization. He says, While the percentage of Americans living in institutions of all types has remained steady at 1 percent from 1960 to 1970 the proportion of this number residing in nursing homes rose from 39 to 44 percent, while the proportion in state hospitals fell from 39 to 20 percent, (Talbott 1113). The decrease was therefore associated with a new form of ethical treatment that was called the milieu therapy and also the important discovery of major tranquilizers. These treatment regimens led to a decrease in the number of patients in mental health facilities from six hundred thousand in the 1950s to less than two hundred thousand in the two decades that followed.

The procedure of presenting alternative treatment regimen for mentally ill patients also known as deinstitutionalization brought about a high number of individuals who were severely mentally ill in society and not in hospitals. It, therefore, meant that something needed to be done to ensure they get the necessary form of treatment. The mental health study act was therefore passed in 1958 by the US Congress to conduct an in-depth analysis concerning the various effects of mental illness. The joint commission in charge of the study came up with its results, and they became an interest to John F Kennedy who was now the president. Due to experience with mental disability in his family, he loved the ideas and talked to the Congress about a new national mental health program for a budget of 4.2 million dollars. It was to be distributed by the NIMH In a message to the Congress in 1963, President John F. Kennedy outlined a federal program designed to reduce by half the number of persons in custody, (Harcourt 3). His aim was for the new plan to be used in the place of hospitals. Kennedy wanted the program to involve the participation of the community, its involvement and its the societys ownership in the program.

He thought of centers that would not only require treatment for those who had severe mental illness in the community but also work with families, children, and adults who were experiencing the effects of stress. Kennedys ideas led to the development of the mental health movement which participated in deinstitutionalization of mentally ill individuals in the US. President Kennedys idea was to initiate a treatment plan that was more community based for the person through various interventions. Drake et al. state, Just as clinical interventions focused on helping people with illness management, rehabilitative interventions emphasized helping them to succeed in functional roles of their choice thereby to develop satisfying lives, (Drake et al. 436). It brought about a sharp decrease in the number of individuals that were in state hospitals as a result of mental illness. They were no longer confined and could undergo treatment in the various community centers they were placed in. The deinstitutionalization movement did not soar immediately but gradually rose to recognition through the application of the different philosophies from other movements including the civil rights movement. The move brought about a drastic improvement in the lives of people who were experiencing severe mental health illnesses.

It allowed individuals to live with the support from their families and surrounded by their communities. Lamb explains how these people manage to live in an integrated society and interact with other people. He states, With the advent of the modern antipsychotic treatments, the vast majority can live in a range of open settings in the community - with family, in their apartments, in board-and-care homes, and halfway house, (Lamb 1044). Hospitals made the mentally ill feel like prisoners, and the environment played no justice in helping them cope with their condition. Community centers, however, helped them recover as they learn to interact with other individuals in the community. They were not locked up in small rooms in the institutions but would move around in the community and experience nature. It also helped change the perception of society towards those who were mentally ill. Institutionalization would have been for the purpose of either protecting the public from those who were mentally in from protecting them from the public. It presented an opportunity for segregation especially from the rest of the public towards those who were mentally ill. It also encouraged fear and ignorance in public towards those who suffered from mental illnesses. People went to the extent of developing wrong ideas concerning the patients which also blocked the recovery and coping mechanisms of these individuals.

Some laws guided deinstitutionalization and the power mostly lay in the hands of the institutions for mental health. They would declare and individual mentally ill only through a series of tests that were not enough to diagnose an individual mentally ill. There needed to be a change in the laws that governed institutionalization and deinstitutionalization to ensure that individuals get the best form of therapy. The welfare of those who were ill was better placed in the community centers. There were court decisions that occurred concerning how individuals went through confined restriction. These decisions limited the power institutions had towards restricting people into hospitals against their will. National organizations provided a short-term treatment plan for those who were mentally ill. Deinstitutionalization, therefore, came in to provide a long-term treatment regime for these individuals.

Previously people held distorted thoughts concerning those who are mentally ill. Kofman explains the issue has been understood before and now she says, The mentally ill have long been misunderstood, mistreated, neglected and abused, (Kofman 10). Though this view has improved to a certain extent, there is still a lot of sensitization to be done to the public. Deinstitutionalization is, therefore, one of the ways through which the public gets to learn about individuals who have mental illness and also get a clear understanding of the various conditions. Through interaction and training, the public gets to learn about how to take care best of those who are affected to ensure that they are comfortable. There is the emergence of advocacy movements which support developments in mental health. The groups work towards ensuring that there is the reduction in discrimination and stigma for those who are mentally ill. The advocacy groups also focus on identifying and developing various sources of support and awareness for them. Different groups started during past decades including the national alliance on mental illness, insane liberation front, project release and freedom of mental health patients.

Many of the participants and members in these groups are ex-patients of different mental health institutions, and in previous decades they were lobbying to challenge the type of treatment the system had for mentally ill individuals. The initial grievances were to do with the involuntary institutionalization, the use of coercive psychiatry, the application of electroconvulsive therapy and anti-psychotic medication. Their efforts were fruitful due to the various reforms that took place in the judicial system concerning the confinement of individuals in mental health institutions.

Works cited

Cutler, David L., Joseph Bevilacqua, and Bentson H. McFarland. "Four decades of community mental health: A symphony in four movements." Community Mental Health Journal 39.5 (2003): 3...