Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- 1 Inspecting Great Britain: German Psychiatrists' Views of British Asylums in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century
- 2 Permeating National Boundaries: European and American Influences on the Emergence of “Medico-Pedagogy” in Late Victorian and Edwardian Britain
- 3 Organizing Psychiatric Research in Munich (1903–1925): A Psychiatric Zoon Politicon between State Bureaucracy and American Philanthropy
- 4 Germany and the Making of “English” Psychiatry: The Maudsley Hospital, 1908–1939
- 5 Patterns in Transmitting German Psychiatry to the United States: Smith Ely Jelliffe and the Impact of World War I
- 6 “Beyond the Clinical Frontiers”: The American Mental Hygiene Movement, 1910–1945
- 7 Mental Hygiene in Britain during the First Half of the Twentieth Century: The Limits of International Influence
- 8 Psychiatry in Munich and Yale, ca. 1920–1935: Mutual Perceptions and Relations, and the Case of Eugen Kahn (1887–1973)
- 9 Explorations of Scottish, German, and American Psychiatry: The Work of Helen Boyle and Isabel Hutton in the Treatment of Noncertifiable Mental Disorders in England, 1899–1939
- 10 Welsh Psychiatry during the Interwar Years, and the Impact of American and German Inspirations and Resources
- 11 Alien Psychiatrists: The British Assimilation of Psychiatric Refugees, 1930–1950
- Selected Bibliography
- List of Contributors
- Index
6 - “Beyond the Clinical Frontiers”: The American Mental Hygiene Movement, 1910–1945
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- 1 Inspecting Great Britain: German Psychiatrists' Views of British Asylums in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century
- 2 Permeating National Boundaries: European and American Influences on the Emergence of “Medico-Pedagogy” in Late Victorian and Edwardian Britain
- 3 Organizing Psychiatric Research in Munich (1903–1925): A Psychiatric Zoon Politicon between State Bureaucracy and American Philanthropy
- 4 Germany and the Making of “English” Psychiatry: The Maudsley Hospital, 1908–1939
- 5 Patterns in Transmitting German Psychiatry to the United States: Smith Ely Jelliffe and the Impact of World War I
- 6 “Beyond the Clinical Frontiers”: The American Mental Hygiene Movement, 1910–1945
- 7 Mental Hygiene in Britain during the First Half of the Twentieth Century: The Limits of International Influence
- 8 Psychiatry in Munich and Yale, ca. 1920–1935: Mutual Perceptions and Relations, and the Case of Eugen Kahn (1887–1973)
- 9 Explorations of Scottish, German, and American Psychiatry: The Work of Helen Boyle and Isabel Hutton in the Treatment of Noncertifiable Mental Disorders in England, 1899–1939
- 10 Welsh Psychiatry during the Interwar Years, and the Impact of American and German Inspirations and Resources
- 11 Alien Psychiatrists: The British Assimilation of Psychiatric Refugees, 1930–1950
- Selected Bibliography
- List of Contributors
- Index
Summary
The term “mental hygiene” represents the public health perspective within psychiatry. Mental hygiene psychiatrists were guided by the ideal of prevention: they designed and promoted intervention strategies to treat mental illness in its incipient stages, to prevent mental disorder from arising or from becoming worse, and to promote mental health in the general population. The concepts of mental hygiene and mental health that were central in their endeavors were inherently flexible and inclusive, which made them appealing to a great number of constituencies, both within and outside of psychiatry. Throughout the period under consideration, these concepts changed considerably, although the concept of mental health continued to contain strong evaluative and normative components, and was therefore influenced by cultural and ideological components. Mental hygienists considered mental health as an essential condition to meet the demands of citizenship (and mental disorder as one of the main causes for social disorder). Because mental hygienists explicitly connected the mental health of individuals to national and, later, international concerns, mental hygiene activities appeared to be relevant to broader social and political goals. Mental hygienists aimed to contribute to building a modern society based on scientific insights into human nature.
Because of their emphasis on the importance of treating mental illness in its incipient stages, mental hygienists increased the domain of psychiatry beyond the confines of the mental hospital and the treatment of severe and persistent forms of mental illness by including the treatment of a variety of less severe mental conditions in outpatient settings.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- International Relations in PsychiatryBritain, Germany, and the United States to World War II, pp. 111 - 133Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2010