Mental health reform not always beneficial.
History is instructive even when the lessons learned cannot be easily transposed to a new time and place. The aim of this paper is to describe psychiatric reforms implemented one hundred years ago in Germany and how, contrary to their intention, they resulted, with changes in economics, politics and ideology, in disaster for psychiatric patients. The conclusion for our time is that the new and seemingly expedient need always to be questioned. If nothing else, the paper reviews an important era in the history of our profession.
Seeman
Mary V
MV
Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Centre for Addiciton and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Mary.seeman@utoronto.ca
D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000266:history; D003363:Cost Control / Q000266:history; D005053:Eugenics / Q000266:history; D005581:Foster Home Care / Q000266:history; D005858:Germany; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000266:history; D006291:Health Policy; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000266:history; D028683:National Socialism / Q000266:history; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000266:history; D011057:Politics; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000266:history