Report to the President from the President's Commission on Mental Health, 1978.

  • United States. President's Commission on Mental Health.
Date:
1978-
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report to the President from the President's Commission on Mental Health, 1978. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Letter of Transmittal THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON The President The White House Washington, D.C. Dear Mr. President: We present for your consideration the Final Report of the President's Commis- sion on Mental Health. The one-year study we undertook at your direction has convinced us that a substantial number of Americans do not have access to mental health care of high quality and at reasonable cost. For many, this is because of where they live; for others, it is because of who they are—their race, age, or sex; for still others, it is because of their particular disability or economic circumstances. Mental health services in this country are located predominantly in urban areas. For those who live in rural areas, small towns, and many of the poorer sections of the Nation’s cities, specialized mental health facilities and personnel are frequently nonexistent, and the services available are rarely comprehensive. For many members of America’s ethnic and racial minority populations, the mental health personnel and services that are available are either inadequate or fail to take into account their different cultural traditions. Many children, adolescents, and older Americans do not have sufficient access to services or to personnel trained to respond to the special needs which are characteristic of their ages. While not enough is known about the causes and treatment of chronic mental illness, we do know that thousands who are so disabled receive deplorably inadequate assistance. | Our study has also convinced us that, for the long run, the Nation will need to devote greater human and fiscal resources to mental health. We now devote only 12 percent of general health expenditures to mental health. This is not commensurate with the magnitude of mental health problems and does not address the interdepend- ent nature of physical and mental health. We must begin now to seek a realistic allocation of resources which reflects this interdependence.