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Public Indifference To Mental Health Cited by Student
tit-i. ui. u'Vi u;, . "ri
r-uale of the trhool of Journalism at
, ihf I'niverkiiy of oreion M an
; "editorial summary" of the con
- elusion, developed In the tenlor
tlifsis required of earh graduate.
The opiniont ara thoit of tnt
writer.
; By KARLYN CARRUTHERS
- (Eugene. Oregon)
Mental illness, which costs
Americans untold suffering
; and an estimated $3 billion
; a year, is the nation's number
. one health problem.
More Americans are in the
I hospital lor mental illness
: than for polio, cancer, tuber-
culosis and all other diseases
; combined. The mentally ill
occupy one-half of the hos
? pital beds In the United
States. It is estimated that
one out of ten Americans will
. spend some part of his life in
: a mental hospital.
; Yet the jOblie, on the
; whole, is treating the problem
with indifference. It shows
. great concern about the prog
; ress that is being made against
other diseases such as polio
'. and cancer. But there i no
general public effort to com
' bat mental illness. The pub
lic remains calm even thouglQ
' : state hospitals, wntcn care lor
" 85 per cent of the mentally(jj
- in, are oiien overcrowaea ana
- facing personnel shortages. It
is lifferent despite the fact
thai not one major mental
. health research discovery of
. the past 50 years was made
in the United States.
Feeling of Shame
The indifference is partial-.-
ly based on a general public
i feeling that being mentally
ill is shameful. The strength
of this feeling was demonstra-
ted as recently as 1B59, when
" Earl Long, then governor of
' Louisiana, drew national at
'' tention to mental illness. He
' was committed once to a
;. mental hospital. When out,
'. he played -bavoc with official
' burthess V!d behaved in an
unpleasant, unbalanced man--.
ner. Unfortunately, the public
reaction was one of disgust,
' instead of sympathy. Contrast
' this with the way that the
public reacted after President
. Eisenhower's heart attack.
." In order to abolish Hlhe
' stigma of mental illness there
must be a general realization
that mentiCT) illness is not
hereditary, that under certain
: conditions it could happen to
' anyone and that mental dis
; eases are not rare; they are
. common.
For instance, in World War
II mental breakdowns were
the second most Qpmmon
' cause of disability, fitter war
wounds. Furthermore, it was
: found that almost any aviator,
: no matter how stable or uc
; Bed he migbtshave been, de
. nlnnpH svnWnma of neurosis
! after 35 missions over Berlirj
, when the public unaer
" stands that mentaMllness is a
disease not a disgrace, perhaps
- it will insist on more intens
: ive treatment and research of
mental illness.
Possibilities Illustrated
. ift' Kansas state mental
; h e a 1 1 h program illustrates
!what can be achieved when
"the public knows the facts
I about(j)ier0l illness. Kansas
people became mental health
conscious because of the na
tionally famous lenninger
Foundation, located in To-
peka. In 1949 Kansas Increas
ed its state mental health bud
;get 60 per cent, partly because
-of the direct efforts of Dfc
Karl Menningcr. By 1954 the
number of patients at Topeka
"state hospital had dropped
-from 1800 to 1400, while the
"number of patients in prac-
fYirally every state mentajrkos
fiital in the country was-ris-iing.
; Despite the progressive pro
gram found in Kansas and
lother states such as New York
;and California, indifference is
hindering mental health pro
grams in many states.
I State hospitals often pro
vide only ctrejodial care, be
cause they lack the physical
facilities and personnel to give
intensive treatment. Imagine
-the public outrage if general
ihospitals were so limited they
ould only mane tnenLraiienis
comfortable instead of trying
"to cure them!
' In 1958 the inadequacy of
many state mental yjpitajs
:was brought into the open nsv
Jthe American Psychiatric as-
He Didn't Dig the
Sandbox Burglars
Milwaukee - Sanitation
Superintendent William J.
2?heinfrank doesn't dig the
;way citizens have been play
ing it fast and loose in the
jcity's sandboxes.
At the beginning of the win
'ter the city put 1,200 sand-boxes
and shovels at strategic
spots and marked them, "Sand
for Icy Streets."
About three-fourths of the
sand is missing. So are 307
shovels. ,
' Rheinfrank wants a city
ordinance passed that would
fine people for stealing the
sand.
"It's bad enough that some
.people steal it to weight down
their car trunks," he said, "but
-w found one service station
operator who covered his
whole lot with the city's
sand."
awuauun,
It evaluated 215
large public mental hospitals.
(There are a total of 277 pub
lie ftental hospitals in the
United States.) Full approval
was given to 24 of the hos
pitals and SI received con
ditional approval. Thus, 140
of the larger mental hospitals
could not even meet the mini
mum standards of the A.P.A.
'Human Warehouse'
Dr. William Mennlnger in
1957 called state mental hos
pitals "human warehouses."
They are overcrowded and
personnel shortages are de
priving the patients of the
treatment they need.
3
den iars&
DOWNTOWN
THIS WEEK o
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Veterans Administra t i o n
hospitals, which provide out
standing treatment for men
tally ill war veterans, have
far bigger staffs than most
state hospitals. In 1956 it was
estimated that it would take
the Western states 29 years to
catch up with the V.A. hos
pitals in psychiatrists, 21
years to get as many Ph.D.
clinical psychologists and 9
years to equalize the ratio for
social workers. Despite the
advantage they have over
state hospitals, the managers
of the V.A. hospitals say that
they would Increase each pro
fessional group by 25 per cent.
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State mental hospital often
find it hard to attract pro
fessional personnel because
the salaries they oCr are so
low. A certitSd psychiatrist
must spend approximately 10
years in post graduate train
ing. It is not surprising that
the few vho endure this long
and expensive- training often
prefer a better paying private
practice. Other psychiatric
workers must also spend
lot of time and money to be
come trained in their pro
fessions. Great Advances Seen '
The general shortage of
personnel Is preventing the
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United States from obtaining
the full benefit of the new
development in the mental
health field. Some experts say
that these developments are
Just the beginning. They be
lieve that great advances can
be made through research.
Mental health, research has
already abown some concrete
benefits, notably the new
drugs and the concept of the
thereaputle community h o s
pttal which emphasizes treat
ing the patient as a sick per
son who can get well and be
a useful member of society
again.
The amount spent by fed-
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eral, state, and national Volun
tary agencies on i.ientil
health research increased
from $10,786,253 in 1955 to
almost $30 million in 1958.
However, this sum is still far
below the $53 million spent on
cancer research and is only
one-tenth of what America
spends on chewing gum.
The scope of present treat
ment of the mentally ill and
the amount of mental health
research being done indicates
that mental illness is the na
tion's number one health
problem primarily because
the American public has al
lowed it to become so.
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Malflb
Mtdford
Menderes Backers
Placed in Jail
Ankara -0JPD- More than
300 legislators belonging to
ousted ex Premier Adnan
Menderes' Democratic party
have been arrested to curb
a "whispering campaign"
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Army sources said the ar
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Court Takes Bids
Under Advisement
TVve Jackson county court
Wednesday took under ad
visement five bids for a rotary
compressor for the Jackson
county roads department.
The bids were Cal-Ore Ma
chinery company, Medford,
$10,915, including trade-In of
two 1947 model compressors;
Freenaughy Machinery com
pany, Portland, 8,989, includ.
trade-in; Loggers and Con
tractors Machinery company,
Portland, $12,090, no trade
in; Baltzer Machinery compa
ny, Portland, $10,900, with
trade-in; and West Equipment
company, Eugene, $9,840, no
trade-in.
Reg. 2.98, 3.49
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Grange News
Central Point Grange
A travelogue of colored
slides, taken in Carlsbad Cav
oss, will be shown Friday,
Jtrhe 3, at the Central Point
Grange meeting by Delmar
Smith. The lecturer, Mrs.
Homer Jeffries, has also ar
ranged for a ladles quartet
from Medford to sing. During
the business meeting the spe
cial committee on the schWl
reorganization bill will re
port. Canada's first parliament
met in Halifax, Nova Scotia,
200 years ago.
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Downtown Medford