Prophylaxis of mental disorder / by Sir Humphry Rolleston, Bart., K.C.B., M.D., Regius professor of physic in the University of Cambridge; President of the Royal College of Physicians of London.

  • Rolleston, Humphry Davy, Sir, 1862-1944
Date:
[1925?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Prophylaxis of mental disorder / by Sir Humphry Rolleston, Bart., K.C.B., M.D., Regius professor of physic in the University of Cambridge; President of the Royal College of Physicians of London. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Treatment. Mental Hygiene.—-Although organized machinery for public health in this country dates from the middle of last century, and Sir John Simon’s efforts at the Local Government Board, psychiatric prophylaxis, or mental hygiene, has lagged far behind, and instead of this country leading the way, as it formerly did in the prevention of ordinary disease, America has set us an example, largely by the enthusiasm of Mr. Clifford W. Beers. Our National Council for Mental Hygiene was founded in 1922, and has various subcommittees quietly at work, especially that on the prevention and early treatment of mental disorders. The possibilities included in mental hygiene are extremel}7 numerous, and concern the home conditions and influences bearing on young children and the education in this respect of the parents; for the impress made by environment on the young mind is of the utmost importance, and, as Henry Head has truly said, the mental hygiene of infants should be as carefully regulated as the ventilation of their nurseries. Faulty environment in the home, even such as parental incompatibilities, can often be tactfully set straight b}T social service, and it cannot be too emphatically stated how much mental hygiene hopes to owe to non¬ professional help in this matter. Mental hygiene, especially in the developmental period of life, is the first line of defence in the prevention of mental disorder, and its want or failure is shown by the need for early treatment in psychiatric clinics, which in their turn should preserve many patients from the necessity of having to enter mental hospitals. The potential influence of heredity may be pre¬ vented from becoming active by wise adjustment of the environment. Further, the treatment of early and recover¬ able cases affords the greatest hope of diminishing the incidence of confirmed insanity. The patients suitable for mental hygiene include those who do not require certifica¬ tion, such as neurasthenics, the subjects of anxiety neuroses and phobias, and also those who might be certified, but need not because they are willing to submit to treat¬ ment or are “ non-volitioiial.” As the National Council for Mental Hygiene pointed out in evidence before the Royal Commission, information as to the number of patients needing early treatment can be obtained from the reports of the Board of Control, the Prison Commissioners, the Registrar-General’s return of attempted suicides, and the returns of the Principal Medical Officer of Health to the Ministry of Health as to the mental sequels of encephalitis epidemica. The social adjustment of children suffering from the after-effects of epidemic encephalitis is a problem of growing importance for the workers in mental hygiene. Early treatment in psychiatric clinics attached to general hospitals has many advantages : the education of the public to the recognition that mental disorder is intimately con¬ nected with bodily disease and not a distinct and mysterious