The New York Psychoanalytic Institute and the New York Psychoanalytic Society

The causes of mental illness and maladjustment of individuals are the same as the causes of wars between nations—fear, hate, guilt and aggressiveness—the National Committee for Mental Hygiene stated in its annual report made public by Dr. George S. Stevenson, Medical Director.

The critical shortage of psychiatric personnel, and the need for more research into the causes and prevention of mental disorders, still retard desired accomplishment in the mental hygiene field, the report said. The Committee considers that the National Mental Health Act will contribute much to the solution of these problems.

National Mental Health Act

The report characterized the passage of the Mental Health Act as the high point of achievement in the mental hygiene field in 1946. It represented the culmination of five years’ effort by the Committee to get such legislation before the Congress. For the first time it supplements state and local efforts and expenditures for mental health with national leadership and financial aid.

The broad purposes of the Act are to foster and aid research relating to the cause, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness; to provide for training of personnel needed in the mental health field; and to assist through grants in the establishment of mental health clinics for the discovery, diagnosis and treatment of persons with psychiatric disorders.

“The Act is not designed to furnish Federal funds for the routine care of patients in mental hospitals,” said the report. “Rather it is desired to provide a program of early diagnosis and prevention in order to reduce the number of patients needing long-term care.”