-
Nellie Bly feigns illness to research asylums
Nellie Bly fakes lunacy in order to get into the Women's Lunatic Asylum on New York’s Blackwell's Island. Her report, "Ten Days in a Mad-house,” details the terrible living conditions at the asylum, leads to a grand jury investigation and needed reforms at the institution. http://www.biography.com/people/nellie-bly-9216680 -
Emil Kraepelin argues for neurodisorders to mental disorders
Kraepelin was convinced that all mental illness had an organic cause, and he was one of the first scientists to emphasize brain pathology in mental illness. Kraepelin distinguished differences between types of mental illness: manic-depressive psychosis, schizophrenia, etc.. Patients were no longer seen as simply “insane.” http://www.britannica.com/biography/Emil-Kraepelin -
Eugenics Movement
Indiana is the first of more than 30 states to enact a compulsory sterilization law, allowing the state to "prevent procreation of confirmed criminals, idiots, imbeciles and rapists." By 1940, 18,552 mentally ill people are surgically sterilized. Mostly people of color and foreigners. https://people.creighton.edu/~idc24708/Genes/Eugenics/History%20of%20Eugenics.htm -
Clifford Beers writes "A Mind that Found itself"
in an account on living and coping with psychosis, a mental disorder, "A Mind That Found Itself" helped him establish the Connecticut Committee for Mental Hygiene and transforming the views on the mentally ill Source - "History of the Consumer/Survivor Movement" https://sites.google.com/site/cbeerslegacy/photo-album -
First International Congress on Mental Hygiene
Delegates from different countries attended the first ever international gathering that discussed mental illness. Mental hygiene was discussed as well as care and treatment for those who were suffering from various mental disorders. It specifically helped open peoples eye to understanding that mental illness is an actual disease and certain measures need to be taken to help those who suffer from it. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1555933/?page=1 -
Shell Shock
Soldiers returning from WWII are suffering from mental illness which prompted research into causes, treatment, and analysis of mental health. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/what-doesnt-kill-us/201111/is-shell-shock-the-same-ptsd -
National Mental health Act
As a response to shell shock and veterans suffering from mental anguish, President Harry Truman signs the National Mental Health Act, calling for the establishment of the National Institute of Mental Health to conduct research into neuropsychiatric problems. -
First anti-psychotics discovered
Marketed as Thorazine by Smith-Kline and French, chlorpromazine is the first antipsychotic drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration. It quickly becomes a staple in asylums and further prompts the desinstitutionalization movement of the mentally distressed into community mental health care and general population -
Mental Health Study Act
http://roughlydaily.com/tag/mental-health-studies-act-of-1955/Psychiatrist Nathan Kline testified before the U.S. Congress about his work with the drug Reserpine to treat psychosis. Kline was sufficiently compelling that he influenced passage of the Mental Health Studies Act of 1955, and received over $2 million in research grants for psychopharmacological research. Congress passes the Mental health study act to find "an objective, thorough, nationwide analysis and reevaluation of the human and economic problems of mental health." -
Community Psychology established as an emerging field
In response to a history of only studying the intrapsychic lived experiences of the individual, community psychology was developed to understand how society shapes the individual and influences mental health. This was prompted by the social justice movements, world war II, and a discontent with the mechanized and determistic psychologies of Freud and behaviorialism. Nelson, G. & Prilleltensky, G. (2005). Community Psychology in Pursuit of Liberation and Well-Being. Palgrave Macmillan. Ne -
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest published
Ken Kesey published One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a fictional story about abuses in a mental hospital. It dramatized conditions. and helped turn public opinion against electro-shock therapy, commonly used at the time. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8296954/How-One-Flew-Over-the-Cuckoos-Nest-changed-psychiatry.html -
Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act
JFK signed the Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act to create community-based mental health facilities. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) created them to provide prevention, early treatment, and ongoing care, with one per every 125,000-250,000 people.
http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft696nb3n8&chunk.id=d0e5267&toc.depth=100&brand=ucpress -
Deinstitutionalization movement
http://useconomy.about.com/od/healthcarereform/fl/Deinstitutionalization.htmPrompted by the creation of anti psychotic medication such as Thorazine which was effective enough to make it possible for people to be medicated for severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia, deinstitutionalization meant that people were no longer forcibly confined to mental health hospitals. Patient rights were advocated more along alongside other social movements for equality. http://study.com/academy/lesson/deinstitutionalization-movement-of-the-1960s-and-other-mental-health-is -
Medicaid signed into law by LBJ
Medicaid and Medi-cal was passed. It doesn't pay for patients in mental hospitals, so states moved them into nursing homes and hospitals to transfer the costs to the Federal government. This also starts the deinstitionalization movement along with the advent of anti psychotics. -
Liberation Movement 1970 - 1972
A movement run by ex-patients, although self referred as "ex-inmates", of the mental health system who felt that the de-humanizing and exploitative system should be shut down instead of reformed. History of the Consumer/Survivor Movement by Gayle Bluebird -
Lanterman–Petris–Short (LPS) Act
The LPS act, which was signed by Ronald Reagan, ended the inappropriate, indefinite, and involuntary commitment of mentally disordered persons, people with developmental disabilities, and persons impaired by chronic alcoholism. -
Activists convice APA to remove homosexuality from the DSM
Politically conscious gay activitists convice the APA to remove homosexuality as a mental health disorder. "History of the Consumer/Survivor movement" by Gayle Bluebird -
On Our own Patient Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System published by Judi Chamberlain
Widely regarded as the authority on ex-patient controlled alternativse, this publication would help start several independently run programs of alternative health care without funds or outside support. -
First Alternative Confernece held
The first alternative conference is held in Baltimore where the term consumer and survivor are agreed upon to reference survivors of the mental health industry. Bluebird - A history of consumer/survivor movement. -
Protection and Advocacy Act for Individuals with Mental Illnesses
Following reports of abuse and neglect at facilities, congress passes PAIMI Act to provide "funding to existing disability advocacy groups to investigate complaints of abuse, neglect, or the denial of legal rights to all people in mental health facilities" Bluebird - History of Consumer/Survivor Movement -
Antidepressants emerge
First generation anti-depressants and MAOI drugs are discovered to combat depression and other mental health diseases. http://www.webmd.com/depression/depression-medications-antidepressants -
Mentally Ill in Prison
Studies suggest approximately 16 percent of prison and jail inmates are seriously mentally ill, which is roughly 320,000 people. https://www.hrw.org/news/2003/10/21/united-states-mentally-ill-mistreated-prison -
Economic Recession
In the aftermath of the Great Recession, states are forced to cut $4.35 billion in public mental-health spending over the next three years. http://www.bbc.com/news/health-23463309 -
Not enough resources for mental health consumers
There are 43,000 psychiatric beds in the United States, or about 14 beds per 100,000 people—the same ratio as in 1850. http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/20/us/psychiatric-beds-shortage/index.html