Mixing with Medics: Interacting with Mental Health

Professionals on their Turf

Matthew Smith Centre for the Social History of Health and Healthcare

University of Strathclyde

Why Study the History of Medicine and

Health?

Pierre Berton (1920-2004)Too popular for his own good?

-‘Infectious epidemics are now largely under control. Most of the major diseases of the body are beginning to give ground in man's increasing struggle to find their cause and cure. But the public understanding, treatment and prevention of mental disabilities have not made comparable progress since the earliest days of modern history.’

- ‘…we must seek out the causes of mental illness and of mental retardation and eradicate them. Here, more than in any other area, ‘an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.’ For prevention is far more desirable for all concerned. It is far more economical and it is far more likely to be successful. Prevention will require both selected specific programs directed especially at known causes, and the general strengthening of our fundamental community, social welfare, and educational programs which can do much to eliminate or correct the harsh environmental conditions which often are associated with mental retardation and mental illness.’

Message from the President on Mental Illness and Mental

Retardation John F. Kennedy (1963)

Research on Social Determinants of Mental Health

Robert E. L. Faris and H. Warren Dunham: Mental Health in Urban Areas (1939) – Chicago

August B. Hollingshead and Frederick C. Redlich: Social Class and Mental Illness (1958) – New Haven, CT August B.

Hollingshead

Frederick C. Redlich

Research on Social Determinants of Mental Health, continued…

Jane Murphy and Alexander Leighton

Alexander Leighton: Stirling County Studies (1959-1963) – Nova Scotia

Leo Srole et al: Mental Health in the Metropolis (1962) - Manhattan

When Theory Meets Politics

- Ultimately, social psychiatric theories demanded political action.- Unwillingness of rival psychiatric disciplines to compromise – professional politics and the prestige of psychiatry.- Many “new” mental illnesses (depression, hyperactivity, etc…) were prevalent in affluent areas.- Social psychiatry split into cross-cultural psychiatry, community psychiatry and preventive psychiatry.- Finally, were mental health workers willing and able to become political actors? Were they willing and able to change society? Are they now?

Chicago

David Satcher16th Surgeon General of the United

States, 1998-2002

The Drake Hotel

South-Side Chicago

Acknowledgements

Wellcome TrustSDMH OrganisersEd Ramsden