Evening star., 1946-07-14
Long-Range Research Aim
Of Mental Health Institute
Public Health Services Proposed Center Near
Washington to Seek Underlying Causes of
By Thomas X. Henry

N. AIS"y
to keep systematized records through
several human generations to get any
dependable results.
The new research institute will be
especially equipped for just such studies
from which no specific results can be ex-
pected in any one generation. But the
staff will be at work on hundreds Of
problems. Thefe will be gathered here
neurologists. biochemists, brain anatom-
lists, psychologists, psychiatrists of all
sorts, sociologists, child specialists and
all the rest of the great assortment OF
scientists who may be able to throw
light on the problems Of the human
mind In addition following the pro-
cedure of the National Cancer Institute
at Bethesda, which is its nearest paral-
lei, the institution will make grants-in.
aid to hospitals and universities all over
the country which are carrying out what
seem to be worthwhile researches.
Two Schools of Thought.
Perhaps there is no more complicated
problem in the world than that OF the
underlying mechanisms of human be-
havior, what causes them to depart from
normality to a pathological degree, and
what constitutes normality. Psychia-
trists still are split between the disciples
of Plato and the disciples of Aristotle.
The first hold that the body, is refec-
tion of the mind and the others that the
mind is a reflection of the body. There
are all sorts of gradations between these
two schools and of late years, after
many bitter controversies, they have
been finding much In common.
good example is shock therapy for
various psychoses-particular demen-
tia precox which constitutes the worst
problem of all. Some years ago it was
found that dramatic re~nveries could be
brought about by vario.- drugs which
threw a patient into severe ~onvulsions.
He would become. at least temporarily.
normal Sometimes such a cure was
permanent but there were many re-
lapses. The functional psychiatrist
found that a great deal could be done
during the lucid interval to prevent
relapse by purely mental therapy.
Latest research is being concentrated
on the biochemistry of nerve cells,
especially brain cells. This is extraordi-
narily complex and probably years will
be required before there are many sig
nifcant findings There must be f1rst
vast amount of apparently unproduc-
tive pick -and-shovel work.
Mental Problem Increases.
The mental health problem is taking
on greater and greater importance, say
psychiatrists OF the Public Health Serv-
| ice, although there Is no valid reason
to suppose that the number of mentally
i'll persons is increasing relative to this
population as a whole. In only ons
field has there been a significant statis-
/ tical increase-that of the psychoseS
incident to old age. This increase can
be explained entirely as due to the fact
that more persons now live to an age
where they are subject to such maladies
The explanation is precisely the same AZ
that for the increase in cancer.
But present day living is becoming
more and more complex. Inadequacies
and abnormalities stand out so that they
are more easily noticed. 1t is mora
difficult for the psychotic to hold job
at which he can make a living. 1t Is
more difficult for his family to support
him and care for him outside an
institution.
oil O
the draft rejection statistics. 1t seemed
at first thought that the mental health
of the country must have undergone q
great decline between the two World
Wars. The fact is, however, that much
greater care was used in rejecting the
unfit because there was no place for
them in the highly skilled and mechan-
lied army of today. For the Civil War
or the First World War the feeble
minded and the psychopathic were about
as good cannon fodder as anybody else.
In this war men were not drafted as
cannon fodder and nobody was wanted
who could not master fairly skilled job.
Too Little Preventive Work.
Efforts in the past have been directed
largely. Public Health psychiatrists say,
to caring for-and occasionally curing
the end results of mental maladies. This
is extremely expensive and success. al
though startling at times, on the whole
has been indifferent Very little has been
done towards preventing the develop
ment of abnormal mental conditions or
towards treating them before they reach
the stage where they render the in-
dividual useless to himself and the world.
The Public Health Institute workers
expect to devote special attention to ths
incubation stages of the psychoses and
toward measures of prevention rather
than cure. The national establishment
will not attempt to coordinate or con-
troll psvchatric research elsewhere This,
they say, would be about the worst pro-
cedure possible since it might tend to
handicap brilliant independent workers.
Instead these men will be encouraged
with grants of Federal funds with no
requirement. for immediate results. Re-
search at St. Elizabeth's. for example.
probably will continue along much the
same lines as at present although re-
cent changes threaten to make this
hospital more exclusively a custodial
institution.
One of the biggest jobs of the institu-
ton will be to make and supervise
grants -in-aid to States for adequate
attention to mental health at the custo-
dial level. Grants also will be made to
teaching institutions for training more
psychiatrists of which there is now a