|
|
|
|
|
|
Resources |
|
|
|
Historical Reflections on Deinstitutionalization
| Article
# : |
16008 |
|
|
Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
|
| Issue
Date : |
7 / 1989 |
4,234 Words |
| Author
: |
Ian Dowbiggen
Ian Dowbiggen teaches at the Faculty of Education at the
University of Western Ontario. |
In recent years there has been a historically unreflective debate about the virtues of the present-day system of community care and treatment for the mentally disabled. Critics charge that community health services are doing little to reintegrate those suffering from mental illness into everyday life. They allege that mentally ill are inadequately housed and receive little active supervision and support from physicians, psychiatric counselors, and social workers. In their view, schizophrenics are being left free to roam the streets and pose dangers to themselves and society at large.
At the same time, in what is a seemingly unrelated development, physicians and medical researchers are talking hopefully of identifying the biochemical and genetic roots of mental disease. They argue that medical science is on the verge of great discoveries after many years of virtual ignorance about the organic and hereditary mechanisms underlying the personality disorders that characterize madness. For example, researchers maintain that they have found a gene for schizophrenia and that they now know a great deal about the chemical neurotransmitters responsible for mental activity. On the one hand, then, there is growing pessimism about the effectiveness of contemporary forms of deinstitutional public assistance to the mentally ill as well as the chances of restoring many schizophrenics to mental health. On the other hand, there is considerable optimism that the profound mysteries surrounding the causes and pathology of madness will soon be solved.
To many people today, these two developments appear to have little in common. However, from a historical perspective, the current concerns expressed about the treatment and management of mental health have
... (1999 of 28079 Characters)
Read Full Article
|
|
