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In this volume Dr. Helen Witmer has provided an analysis of the needs for an extension of psychiatric services for children in non-metropolitan areas. The demands for such progress have had the attention of the National Committee for Mental Hygiene in that two staff members were delegated to collect data relative to state programs already in progress and thus determine ways whereby the aims could best be realized. The material gathered by these staff members, Miss Winifred W. Arrington and Miss Dorothy Brinker, is the basis from which the present detailed and stimulating account has been drawn.
The work of Dr. Witmer, who is Research Associate of the National Committee, affords an excellent view of the social, psychological, and organizational factors comprising the furtherance of psychiatric and mental hygiene activity away from the base of large metropolitan centers. First given are orientations regarding the historical and theoretical background; the basis needed for the development of clinical child psychiatry in point of institutions, social attitudes, and the comparative guiding value of theoretical standpoints in psychiatry; and a survey of the ground covered in the past evolution of psychiatric clinics for children.
The sources and plans of the study are presented in detail. Among the special topics dealt with are the achievements of clinics conducted by state hospitals for mental disorders, together with case studies from two hospital clinics; and of clinics conducted by psychopathic hospitals and by the central departments of state governments. Findings and principles for future programs constitute the chief matter of the study, presented under headings of Organization on the Basis of Function; Prevention of Psychosis and Crime as a Clinic Objective; Psychiatric Service for the Feebleminded and Neurologically Disabled; Modern Child Guidance as a Means of Promoting Mental Health; and Planning Effective Psychiatric Service for Small Communities.
This work is va