Community Mental Health Act

The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 (CMHA) (also known as the Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act, Mental Retardation Facilities and Construction Act, Public Law 88-164, or the Mental Retardation and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act of 1963) was an act to provide federal funding for community mental health centers in the United States. This legislation was passed as part of John F. Kennedy's New Frontier. It led to considerable deinstitutionalization.

In 1955, Congress passed the Mental Health Study Act, leading to the establishment of the Joint Commission on Mental Illness and Mental Health. That Commission issued a report in 1961^[1], which would become the basis of the 1963 Act.^[2]

The CMHA provided grants to states for the establishment of local mental health centers, under the overview of the National Institute of Mental Health. The NIH also conducted a study involving adequacy in mental health issues. The purpose of the CMHA was to provide for community-based care, as an alternative to institutionalization. However, some states saw this as an excuse to close expensive state hospitals without spending some of the money on community-based care.

The CMHA proved to be a mixed success. Many patients, formerly warehoused in institutions, were released into the community. However, not all communities had the facilities or expertise to deal with them.^[3] In many cases, patients wound up in adult homes or with their families, or homeless in large cities^[4][5], but without the mental health care they needed.^[6]

See also

• Community health
• Global Mental Health

Notes

1. ^ National Mental Health Association (NMHA) History
2. ^ THINK ABOUT THE NEXT 25 YEARS
3. ^ The University of California, Berkeley and San Francisco, Center for Mental Health Services Research
4. ^ Scanlon, John, "Homelessness: Describing the Symptoms, Prescribing a Cure", Heritage Foundation, Backgrounder #729, October 2, 1989
5. ^ Rubin, Lillian, "Sand Castles and Snake Pits: Homelessness, Public Policy, and the Law of Unintended Consequences", Dissent journal, Fall 2007.
6. ^ Friedman, Michael B., "Keeping The Promise of Community Mental Health", The Journal News, August 8, 2003

Further reading

• Arce, A. Anthony , Vergare, Michael J., "Homelessness, the chronic mentally ill and community mental health centers", Community Mental Health Journal, Springer Netherlands, Volume 23, Number 4 / December, 1987.
• Institute of Medicine (U.S.) Committee on Health Care for Homeless People, Institute of Medicine (U.S.), "Homelessness, Health, and Human Needs: Health Care and Human Needs", National Academies Press, 1988, ISBN 0309038324. Cf. p. 97.
• Kramer, Morton, "Statistics of Mental Disorders in the United States: Current Status, Some Urgent Needs and Suggested Solutions", Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A (General), Vol. 132, No. 3 (1969), pp. 353–407, Blackwell Publishing for the Royal Statistical Society
• Rochefort, David A., "From Poorhouses to Homelessness: Policy Analysis and Mental Health Care", Westport, CT: Auburn House, 1993
• Rudin, Edward, McInnes, Robert S., "Community Mental Health Services Act — Five Years of Operation Under the California Law", California Medicine, 1963 July; 99(1): 9–11.
• Sharfstein, Steven S., "Whatever Happened to Community Mental Health?", Psychiatric Services, 51:616-620, May 2000, American Psychiatric Association
• Stavis, Paul F., "Homeward Bound: The Developing Legal Right to a Home in the Community", Quality of Care Newsletter, Issue 48, April–May 1991, New York State Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities.