Mental Health and Incarceration
Class
About this Module
Class 4: A Vision of Community Inclusion
Introduction:
Between 1955 and 1975, the number of people in mental hospitals decreased dramatically, a process called deinstitutionalization. But, while the number of mental hospital beds decreased, many people went without adequate housing, employment, and access to medical care. In the 1970s, the National Institute of Mental Health developed the Community Support Program, which worked to integrate social services for people with mental health conditions in the community. Students read a series of archival documents to explore the main concepts of this program. They then consider how the plan would have improved community services for people with mental health conditions and its significance for mental health reform today.
Class Resources
- Brown, Bertram. “Deinstitutionalization and Community Support Systems: A Statement,” November 4, 1975. [MS C 493, Bertram Brown Papers 1884-1988, Series 5] Modern Manuscripts Collection, History of Medicine Division, U.S. National Library of Medicine.https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/bookviewer?PID=nlm:nlmuid-100961975X1680-leaf#page/1/mode/1up/search/november+4
- “Memo on GAO Deinstitutionalization Study,” October 30, 1975. [MS C 493, Bertram Brown Papers 1884-1988, Series 5] Modern Manuscripts Collection, History of Medicine Division, U.S. National Library of Medicine.https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/bookviewer?PID=nlm:nlmuid-100961975X1680-leaf#page/15/mode/1up/search/october+30
- “Deinstitutionalization and Community Support: A Report,” July 28, 1975. [MS C 493, Bertram Brown Papers 1884-1988, Series 5] Modern Manuscripts Collection, History of Medicine Division, U.S. National Library of Medicine.https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/bookviewer?PID=nlm:nlmuid-100961975X1680-leaf#page/5/mode/1up/search/july+28
- Photograph of Bertram S. Brown. Care and Custody: A History of Mental Health. U.S. National Library of Medicine. May 1, 2020.
- Turner, Judith Clark. and William J. TenHoor. “The NIMH Community Support Program: Pilot Approach to a Needed Social Reform.” Schizophrenia Bulletin 4, no. 3 (1978): 319—49.
Discussion Questions
- What was the Community Support Program?
- What were the challenges of deinstitutionalization in the 1970s that the Community Support Program sought to address?
- What was the significance of the Community Support Program? Did it have any limitations? If so, what?
- How was this proposal useful to mental health reformers today?
- Activity: Conduct a document analysis of Bertram Brown’s statement titled “Deinstitutionalization and Community Support Systems,” which he gave at a press conference about the Community Support Program. Students will consider who Bertram Brown was and his perspective, the main messages of what he said, the context in which he wrote the speech, and the document’s significance to our consideration of mental health today.
