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The Medical Roundup
oniultant In Medlclna.
Mao clinic
Cmerltnt Prof mo r of Medicine.
Mavo Foundation
LI m
Our Neglect of the
Mentally Disturbed
0I keep getting letters from
fer-rsons who say, "I wish you
would auit harping on mental
t r o u bles and
here dity. My
family is shot
fullof irsanity.
alcoholism and I
e p i lepsy, and
so I just don't
veant to hear
a word about j
such troubles.
So talkabout
muscular dys
trophy, cfln9 multiple sclerosis if
you want to, Cut leave mental
diseS.ie alone."
As M..e Gorman of the Na
tional Mental Health Committee
of Washington, D.C., said the
other day, his is the attitude
of jrjst laymen, and I am asham
ed to say, of most physicians
today. None of us wartt"anything
t rig iSith the greatest medical
rjS problem th ate faces "the- country.
; I can practice It) yeers without
'. sPeing a ca-eof muscular Systro-
Ph? ormultiple sclerosis, bul
j ev-i-ry rfay I see men and woran
'. v(go are mentally upset and in"
I need f0psychiatwc helps'. As Mr.
i j)rm;i recently pointed out so
forciolyo every other hospital
' bed inothe lSd is Occupied by
insane perom, andfor every
j mentally disturbed patient in a'
- hospital there are 29 outside
2yiartJ of diem a tribje prob
; lem to their relatives.
G t Ev(y week a fiumber of moth
5 ers wjh a menfnlly disturbed son
j ask ft.e what to do. Jhe lad is
J S8t insane enough, or in.sane
i enough al the tiroe to be corn
i mitti: but he is trnemployable;
perhaps he (is traveling about.
'charging things to his parents
; arrapidly using up their me
; ger swings. What can the mother
T do? To Owhom csm she, appeal?
Urw can sh ge her son into
a r-grnfSI hospital when he "see-
no need for being treated?
I Where can shefind a psychiatrist
T(5 il'iig tfstrugfe with the prob
. lerrAf hostile and impecunious
' man who will not admit that he
iCill? I am sorry to say I do rtot
; know the answers.
I May BS Well Upset- , .
I Let us saj that we talk the
nriQ?ito ing to the nearest
slate hospital? Will he be hsppy"
; there? "o. H$0may wll be so
J upse?) by the conditiois in an
', antiquated and badly over-crowd
ed institution that he will be
worse. As Mr. Gorman says, the
conditions in many of our state
hospitals are a disgrace to our
civilization.
Will the man get good treat
ment? He may or he may not,
depending on the generosity or
the niggardliness of the legisla
ture in that particular state. As
my good friend, the medical su
perintendent of the mental hos
pital in a poor state used to sav
to me, sadly, "How can I hope
to do anything for my patients
when there are several hundred
of them and I have only one
assistant?"
And if the lad goes into a
hospital and comes out well
will he be able to find a job?
Read Mrs. Hackett's book "The
Cliffs Edge (McGraw Hill) and
learn that the man who has just
been discharged from mental
hospital cannot get a job even
as a laborer no one will have
him. Thank God for the few kind
men who today are trying to
combat this situation!
Finally, if a child becomes so
mentally disturbed that the par
ents cannot handle him, where
can he be taken? In many states,
nowhere. According to Mr. Gor
man, in this country there are
only 30 residential treatment
centers which can take care of
only 2.000 children a year. They
have 10 times as many applicants
as they can accept. The Child
Welfare League estimates that
there are 50.000 emotionally dis
turbed children for whom we
Americans have made no provi
sion. In our schools we have one
psychiatrist for every 50,000
children.
Fundi for Clinics
A while ago the father of a
criminally psychotic boy wrote
me "No one will take him until
he kills some child, and this I
expect him to do any day." It is
good to hear that the Pennsyl
vania legislature recently appro
priated over a million dollars for
psychiatric clinics for children.
Mr. Gorman keeps pointing
out that our laws and our meth
ods for handling the mentally
disturbed are antiquated. Other
countries have shown that many
of the mentally disturbed can be
cared for humanely in homes.
Canada has shown that many
disturbed persons can be taken
care of in either "day" or "night"
hospitals. The man may be in
a hospital during the day, getting
treatment, and at night he re
turns to his home. Or. he works
all day and stays in the hospital
at night
If many general hospitals had
a division in which disturbed
persons could be helped, these
persons would not get the ter
rible stigma of having been in
an "Insane Asylum." As I see
it, there is a tremendous need
for part-pay centers to which
puzzled relatives of a mentally
upset person could go for infor
mation and for advice as to the
best way to handle and care for
their loved one. Perhaps there
could be persons not police
men with a police wagon but
kindly, well - trained men who
could come to a home in an
Sunday, December 23, 1956
MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL.TRIBUNE THREE
ordinary car and try to talk the
patient into going with them
for a few weeks of expert treat
ment in one wing of a general
hospital.
As Mr. Gorman says, this ter
rible problem cannot be solved
until the public and the medical
profession take some interest in
it. So far we doctors have paid
no attention to the situation; we
have never visited a mental hos
pital, and, like most people, we
have not wanted ever to hear i
a word about the care of the
mentally upset. .
Dr. Alvarez hopes his readers
will understand that it would be
impossible for him to answer re
quests for information or to at
tempt to diagnose-by mail.
(Released by The Register and
Tribune Syndicate, 1956)
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