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Introduction pt 1.
The monster I am investigating throughout this project is mental illness, and the effects of it throughout recent history. This is of importance in current times as we are experiencing an influx of diagnosed mental illnesses, with an unknown cause. The main kinds of artifacts I included in this project include a collection of photos with one written document of United States legislation in support of reforming the United States mentality on mental illness. -
Introduction pt 3
The common theme connecting these artifacts to each other is the ongoing mental health and mental illness crises, throughout history more specifically mainly in issues dealing with suicide, and reform in the 1950’s through the 1970’s. While all of my artifacts have very different environments that they were taken from; ranging from a recent suicide photo to an award ceremony; it is important to have many different examples on how stigmatized mental health was in historic times. -
Introduction pt 2
One artifact is a photo of an actual suicide, another is a photo of an award ceremony for women in their efforts to raise money and awareness for mental health in their community, and the final photo is a roll of film photographs of the United States Presidential Mental Health Luncheon. -
Suicide
Photographer: Harry Mellon Rhoads A photo of the body of a man on the ground who has seemingly committed suicide. He is pictured with a gun beside him. This shows how the monster of mental illness takes a permanent and gory toll for the victim.
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Mental Health Workers
It is a photo of 3 women, one of which is handing a certificate to the others. The certificate is an award for the women’s work in mental health fundraising campaigns. Link text -
Remarks of the President on Mental Illness and Mental Retardation
The document entails how President Kennedy wishes to fight mental illness, and how we must find better prolonged treatment options for those afflicted. The president delivered this document as a speech on television broadcasted to the nation.
Written by: White House Secretary, but President John F. Kennedy words
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Mental Health Luncheon
It is a collection of 17 photos on film that had been taken at the Presidential Mental Health Luncheon. This is important as it shows how mental health had started to be taken more seriously in the 1970’s.
People: President Carter and Cabinet members
Photographer: White House Staff
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Conclusion pt. 7
It doesn’t mean that less people had mental illness before it became a known thing, it just was and sometime still is seen in a negative context, which ends up causing people not to speak up and commit suicide. Mental illness is an illness that affects so many people in the United States and globally. It is important to talk about it and give a more positive connotation to it so that people can learn how to deal with it, and are more willing to get the help they need. -
Conclusion pt. 5
The mental health workers are the ones helping these individuals and five years later the president announced the importance of it to the nation. The hope is that those like the man who committed suicide never get to that point because of treatment. Kennedy brought light to a continuing illness and made a point to talk about it in front of the whole nation. -
Conclusion pt 1
These artifacts are important to the monster of mental illness because they are all parts of the mental health history in the United States. Whether it be suicide, mental health workers, or presidential letters and meetings, there is significance to each one. To start, the picture of the guy who committed suicide was in 1930. This is only ten years past women being able to vote in the United States. Suicide is the dark ending of some peoples mental illness. -
Conclusion pt 2
This guy didn’t like himself or his future, and his solution to the problem was to take his own life instead of working through the problems. The mental illnesses he had took his life. Next, the importance of mental health workers became more and more necessary as time went along. Mental health workers are there to support those who are struggling before they end up like the man who committed suicide. -
Conclusion pt 3
Mental health workers in the 1950’s were mainly women because of their capability to nurture and care for others who aren’t as competent as they are. In the photo, one is getting an award for fundraising for mental health to support those who are struggling with mental illness. These funds helped pay mental health workers, uphold facilities, and support the ones in need. -
Conclusion pt 4
To continue, President John F. Kennedy's speech he gave to the nation specifically targets mental illness as an main issue and gave the steps that his team were going to take to help find more longer term treatment options for those who struggle year after year. Since this speech was in 1963, there are many cases that have gone unknown about mental illness in other people because it wasn’t talked about as much. -
Conclusion pt. 8
Sometimes it could be a simple fix with a prescription, but others learn ways through talking their problems out with a therapist to better understand themselves. -
Bibliography pt1
Kennedy, John F. “Remarks by President John F. Kennedy on Mental Illness and Mental Retardation.” National Archives and Records Administration, February 5, 1963. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/193881. “Mental Health Luncheon.” National Archives and Records Administration, October 27, 1977. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/176668. -
Bibliography
“Mental Health Workers.” Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection, 1958. https://tessa.lapl.org/cdm/ref/collection/photos/id/73760. Rhoads, Harry Mellon. “Suicide.” Denver Public Library Special Collections, n.d. https://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15330coll22/id/19517. -
Conclusion pt. 6
Similar to JFK, a mental health luncheon was held by President Carter in 1977 continuing to talk about mental illness among citizens and to come up with ideas to help those in need from a governmental view. Mental illness as time has gone on has been talked about more and more. The guy who took his life in the 1930s did not have the access to help from mental health workers and it wasn’t an important thing then.