The Post-War World II era saw the start of a transformation in the attitudes toward and the treatment of mental illness in the United States that was most significantly marked by the passing of the Community Mental Health Act of 1963 (CMHA: Public Law 88-164). The Community Mental Health Act––passed under President John F. Kennedy’s administration and notable innitiative––was revolutionary in proposing the implementation of two novel concepts that largely contributed to the deinstitutionalization of those with mental illnesses. First, the act called for federal investment and spending in funding of mental health services; prior to its passing, mental health funding had been the domain of the states and local governments almost entirely. Additionally,
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These factors united public opinion, academia, and public policy and law under a common rhetoric that worked to identify and define the inadequate treatment of the mentally ill and the need for new modes of intervention as a social problem. The Community Mental Health Act attempted to address said social problem in ways that championed values in line with social justice, such as making mental health services economically feasible and removing restrictions to individual’s freedoms––placed due to mental disabilities––by decreasing long-stay hospitalizations. Despite the good-intentioned motives, the CMHA lead to many negative consequences that evidence its short-sightedness and the lack of synchronicity among the various stakeholders affected. In tracing the various conditions that produced the CMHA, it becomes apparent that impactful policy is assembled out of a series of cultural, scientific, political, and social circumstances that must all exist and come together within a very specific …show more content…
The economic climate of the time was particular to the financial boom of the post-war era: with revenues at high levels, the federal governement felt more confident in taking on national projects, as evidenced by several federal endeavors, such as Truman’s Fair Deal (Torrey, 2014, p. 30). Furthermore, the separation of powers was safeguarded by an added clause in the act that prohibited the use of funds on providing state hospitals equipment or personnel training (Torrey, 2014, p. 26). Through this strategy, states would still have a large degree of autonomy when it came to managing the hospitals. Since Felix was pushing for community mental health clinics rather than the preservation and reformation of state hospitals, it was not a hard point to sell to him. The passing of the act allowed for the establishment of the National Institute of Mental Health, which would pioneer much of the research to later support the
These factors united public opinion, academia, and public policy and law under a common rhetoric that worked to identify and define the inadequate treatment of the mentally ill and the need for new modes of intervention as a social problem. The Community Mental Health Act attempted to address said social problem in ways that championed values in line with social justice, such as making mental health services economically feasible and removing restrictions to individual’s freedoms––placed due to mental disabilities––by decreasing long-stay hospitalizations. Despite the good-intentioned motives, the CMHA lead to many negative consequences that evidence its short-sightedness and the lack of synchronicity among the various stakeholders affected. In tracing the various conditions that produced the CMHA, it becomes apparent that impactful policy is assembled out of a series of cultural, scientific, political, and social circumstances that must all exist and come together within a very specific …show more content…
The economic climate of the time was particular to the financial boom of the post-war era: with revenues at high levels, the federal governement felt more confident in taking on national projects, as evidenced by several federal endeavors, such as Truman’s Fair Deal (Torrey, 2014, p. 30). Furthermore, the separation of powers was safeguarded by an added clause in the act that prohibited the use of funds on providing state hospitals equipment or personnel training (Torrey, 2014, p. 26). Through this strategy, states would still have a large degree of autonomy when it came to managing the hospitals. Since Felix was pushing for community mental health clinics rather than the preservation and reformation of state hospitals, it was not a hard point to sell to him. The passing of the act allowed for the establishment of the National Institute of Mental Health, which would pioneer much of the research to later support the