Title

Issues in American psychiatry reflected in remarks of APA presidents, 1844-1994

UMMS Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry

Publication Date

1994-10-01

Document Type

Article

Subjects

History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; Hospitals, Psychiatric; Hospitals, Public; Humans; Psychiatry; Societies, Medical; United States

Disciplines

Health Services Research | Mental and Social Health | Psychiatric and Mental Health | Psychiatry | Psychiatry and Psychology

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The author reviewed the history of American psychiatry for the first 150 years of the American Psychiatric Association's existence (1844-1994) as reflected in remarks of the association's presidents.

METHODS: Presidential addresses or remarks from alternative sources were located for the 120 presidents who served the association between 1844 and 1994.

RESULTS: The presidents' remarks on six topics-psychiatric practice, etiology of mental illness, public mental hospitals, alternatives to state hospitals (deinstitutionalization), biologic treatments, and fiscal issues were sampled and arranged chronologically.

CONCLUSIONS: American psychiatry's history--its innovations, cyclical repetitions, and self-assessments-can be gleaned from this form of data. The presidents' remarks appear to refute the claim that organized American psychiatry has been negligent in criticizing itself.

Source

Hosp Community Psychiatry. 1994 Oct;45(10):993-1004.

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Hospital and community psychiatry

Related Resources

Link to Article in PubMed

PubMed ID

7829055

Link to Full Text

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