Dutch and American mental health hospitals in the reconstruction years (1945 - 1970)

Abstract

This research has focused on the similarities and differences in the relevant socio-cultural influences and the organization of characteristic mental healthcare facilities for the Netherlands and the United States in the period from 1945 to 1970. Starting with the socio-cultural changes from this period for the Netherlands and the United States, it can be stated that the Second World War had a major influence on the way in which the mentally ill were looked upon by society in both countries. This has ultimately resulted in a general deinstitutionalization in the mental healthcare in the Western developed countries, where the care for the mentally ill shifted from the institution towards the community. Furthermore global medicinal developments resulted in new psychotropic drugs that improved the manageability of patients. This made it possible to develop new socio-therapies that focussed on creating social connections for patients as a form of group therapy. New psychotropic drugs also made it possible to transition from distinguishing mental patients in manageability to a distinction in treatment methods. In both countries it was tried to normalize mental illness in society and to implement the newly developed treatment methods in the organization of mental care. This implementation was clearly visible in both countries in the form of indoor and outdoor space for group therapy and additional sports facilities. In the Netherlands, the socialization of the mentally ill was attempted by bringing the institution and society closer together and by representing ‘normal’ society as well as possible. In the United States, this was attempted by leaving the institute completely behind and having the mental care of patients taken care of by their communities in the form of Community Mental Health Centres. In both cases, the healthcare facilities are based on a particular community with different needs. This makes it difficult to identify universal mental care architecture for both countries. That is why the focus is on the organization of and influences on psychiatric healthcare institutions and the differences in this between the countries.