Mental diseases: a public health problemMay, James Vance
Science
Mental diseases: a public health problem
May, James Vance
Mental health services; Psychology, Pathological
On January 1, 1916, there were 147 state and federal institutions
for the care and treatment of mental diseases in the United States,
as shown by the Census Bureau reports. There were at this same time
twenty-seven institutions for the feebleminded, nine for epileptics,
three for inebriates, forty-five for tuberculosis, twenty-eight for the
blind, thirty-three for the deaf, twelve for the blind and deaf and
eighty-four for the dependent classes.[3]
The appropriations for the maintenance of these institutions for 1915
amounted to $33,557,058.29. This constituted 7.6 per cent of the
appropriations made by those states for all purposes. In Massachusetts
it represented 14.8 per cent, in New Hampshire 10.1, in New York 12.7,
in Ohio 12, in Indiana 10.7, in Illinois 13.4, and in a number of other
states over ten per cent of the appropriations for all purposes. It was
equivalent to an average of $431.16 per million of the total assessed
valuation of these states. In Massachusetts it was as high as $653.62
and in New York $567.37. This means thirty-three cents per capita for
all states, eighty-four cents for Massachusetts and sixty-eight cents
for New York.
The actual expenditure for the maintenance of these institutions was
$36,312,662.20. For purposes of comparison, attention should be called
to the fact that the maintenance of the tuberculosis hospitals of the
United States for the same year cost $3,539,454.95, institutions for
criminals $21,244,892.00, for the feebleminded $3,341,442.85, for
epileptics $1,345,821.57, for the blind $1,066,973.14, for the deaf
$1,893,490.09 and for the dependent classes $9,675,932.37.
The value of the property invested in the state and federal hospitals
for mental diseases in 1916 was estimated at $187,028,728.00. The
valuation of these institutions per 100,000 of the population
was $184,795.81. This does not include establishments for mental
defectives. The average value per patient was $938.43. In Massachusetts
it was $1,097.85 and in New York $1,039.85. In Arkansas it was as high
as $2,264.00. The total acreage of land was 109,503.2, an average of
744.9 acres per hospital. There were 33,124 persons employed, an
average of 226.9 for each institution. This represented one employee
for every six patients.
The census taken by the National Committee for Mental Hygiene[4]
in 1920 shows 156 state hospitals for mental diseases, two federal
institutions, 125 county or city hospitals and twenty-one institutions
of a temporary care type. In the public and private hospitals for
mental diseases on January 1, 1920, there were 232,680 patients under
treatment. Of these, 200,109 were in public and 9,238 in private
hospitals. This represented an increase of 8,723 in two years. It is
interesting to note that city and county institutions cared for 21,584
persons.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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