The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-11-22
Liberal Viewpoint
-gy DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

I THE national committee for mental hygiene
Il now is celebrating its twenty-ffth ami
/ versarv II is therefore timely and relevant TO
consider just what the mental hygiene move
ment actually has accomplished in the cause of
civilization and decency during the first quarter
Of century OF its existence
1T has. in the first place developed sane
attitude toward mental and nervous diseases.
The mystery and stigma therein have been re-
moved. The sufferer no longer is regarded as a
sort of combination of witch and leper but is
/ viewed as any other person unfortunate enough
to be III. Insanity has been seculari5ed
thoroughly and well established as a socio-
medical problem"
Not only has mental hygiene developed
rational perspective in approaching mental and
] nervous diseases; it also has aided in the move
ment to provide competent treatment for these
diseases. 1t has organized and pooled the re-
sources of neurologists and psychiatrsts. 1t has
enabled social workers. and even the average in
telligent layman to know where and how mental
and nervous disorders are treated scientifically
BY extending the intelligent demand for COM
petent treatment Of mental and nervous dis
eases mental hygiene has had a powerful in
fuence n increasing the prestige of psychiatry
/ in the medical colleges. 1t has brought pSychia
/ try into its own IN medical education as well as
medical practice. 1t was no accident that the
/ first medical director of the national committee
was called to one of the most important posts
I in psychiatric instruction in our country.
a result of the mental hygiene movement
! N coupled with the progress of pSychiatry, we
are today able to distinguish between the mild
disorders, known neuroses, and the more
serious manifestations, which we call psychoses.
1t has been demonstrated that as usual
thing the psychoses first assert themselves as
neuroses which, if unchecked, may take on
psychotic character This has indicated the very
li1e Of he preventive technjoUP in mental
hygiene. neurosis is much more easily halted
and treated than pSychosis.
But the preventive goal of mental hygiene
goes farther back than merely holding IN check
neurotic symptoms. 1t endeavors to prevent
neurosis through laying out broad philosophy
of conduct which will render unnecessary the
wide prevalence of neurotic types in the popula-
ton.
Such goal leads directly to placing major
! emphasis on the observation and treatment of
children. The problem children furnish the re-
cruits from whom are drawn the army OF adult
neurotics and psychotics. BY linking up the
mental hygiene clinic with the public school sys-
tenn we are able to get hold of problem children
at an early age while their personalities are still
/ flexible. BY understanding and prompt treat
ment we may save them from neuroseS or even
| from the hospital for the insane and the state
penitentiary.
ID ECOGNIzING the Importance of mental and
IN nervous factors in every phase of our life,
the mental hygiene movement has extended
logically its work to such fields crime, indus
try, SEX family and divorce problems, and ra-
tional education. In the latter field it has
brought into being the only school hygiene
worthy of the name.
1t is no exagerat on to say that our scientific
criminology is only specialized field of mental
hygiene. Mental hygiene in industry is the only
movement which had made any serious effort
to help man in adjusting himself to the un-
natural and difficult life patterns created by the
industrial revolution and the factory system
with its great industrial cages.
Mental hygiene in family life seems to be the
! only hope we have of checking the growing di-
vorce rate and providing rational secular tech
nique in the place of the old supernatural con-
trolls which rapidly evaporating in the realm
of sex and family relationships.
Just to the degree that supernaturalism
yields before the onSlaughts of mental hygiene
will man become capable of meeting the new
and increased strains and stresses which modern
life has imposed upon him.
! Mental hygiene is not only the one body OF
knowledge scientifically equipped to handle con-
temporary issues of right living; it also is the
only technique likely to appeal to the skeptical
younger generation which has lost its faith in
the custodians of the supernatural