World Federation for Mental Health
News and Notes
A World Federation for Mental Health was established in London last August during the International Congress, in place of the International Committee for Mental Hygiene (founded in Washington in 1930 and which lapsed during the war years.) Dr J. R. Rees, C.B.E., was elected President for the year 1948-9, Dr Andre Repond (Swiss National Committee for Mental Hygiene), VicePresident, Dr Frank Fremont Smith (U.S.A.), Hon. Treasurer, and Dr Kenneth Soddy, Hon. Secretary. A constitution was approved, and an Executive Board, consisting of 12 delegates from founder members national organizations, was appointed with Dr H. C. Riimke of Holland as Chairman. Dr Doris M. Odium was elected to the Board as Representative of the United Kingdom. The National Association for Mental Health is a founder member of the Federation. The first meeting of the Executive Board will take place in Amsterdam, from January 5th-9th, 1949, and the second Mental Health Assembly is being fixed for the second-half of August, 1949, in Geneva. The incorporation of the Federation as a company without profit is now being completed in Switzerland, where it is hoped to set up a permanent secretariat. In the meantime, the Federation has a temporary office in London.
The chief objects of the Federation are to promote among all peoples and nations the highest possible level of mental health, and to assist in developing an informed public opinion on matters relating to mental health. Membership of the Federation is open to any national or other organization whose purpose in main or in part is the promotion of mental health and human relations and/or the study of problems in these fields, and whose membership in the Federation shall have been approved by the Mental Health Assembly in accordance with the Articles. The minimum annual subscription .for national organizations desiring to become members of the Federation has been fixed at 400 Swiss francs. The World Health Organization and unesco have accepted the World Federation as a nongovernmental body with consultative status, which means in general that the Federation will be kept in touch with their activities and will be asked to help in various ways.
Large funds will be required to enable the Federation to do really effective work. All countries, therefore, have been asked to assist in fund raising. The Federation’s work in promoting friendly international relations should commend itself to everyone, especially at the present time, because of the general state of anxiety and the very obvious need for improved human relations and better mental health. The Federation looks to this country for substantial financial help, and it is clearly the duty of the member organizations to raise large sums of money, in addition to their subscriptions, if the Federation is to become firmly established.
Mental Deficiency Group
There has recently been formed within the National Association for Mental Health a Group whose function it will be to consider problems connected with mental deficiency administration, particularly those arising out of recent legislation. Mrs. Hester Adrian, J.P., a member of the East Anglian Regional Hospital Board and President of the Cambridgeshire Voluntary Association for Mental Welfare, has consented to act as Chairman. Other members of the Group include Medical Superintendents of mental deficiency institutions, Mental Health Officers of Local Health Authorities and members of the National Association’s Social Services Committee who have a special interest in mental deficiency, amongst whom should especially be mentioned Dame Evelyn Fox. The Group, which held its first meeting at the end of October, is at present considering questions concerning the provisions of the National Health Service Act, the National Insurance Act and the National Assistance Act in so far as they relate to the welfare of defectives. Other matters will be dealt with as and when the need arises.
Essay Competition for Mental Nurses Arrangements are now in train for the 1948-9 Essay Competition for certificated mental nurses, founded by the Society of the Crown of our Lord, and administered by the National Association for Mental Health. A Selection Committee has been appointed to choose a subject and to- adjudicate on the essays received. An announcement on the terms of the Competition will shortly be available.
The W.H.O. and Mental Health
it is interesting to record that Dr G. R. Hargreaves, O.B.E., who was Chairman of the Business Committee of the International Congress on Mental Health, and is at present Principal Medical Officer, Lever Brothers and Unilever, Ltd. has been appointed Director of Mental Health to the World Health Organization. He is expected to take up his duties early in the New Year. It is noteworthy that the Executive Secretary to the World Health Organization, Dr G. Brock Chisholm, is also a psychiatrist.
New Publications Agricultural Hostels.
The National Association for Mental Health has issued an attractively illustrated leaflet describing its work in setting up Agricultural Hostels for mentally handicapped men, the majority of whom are on licence from Institutions. The success of this experiment, started during the war years, has been remarkable, and efforts are being made to establish similar hostels for other categories of workers. Copies of the leaflet may be had on application to the Association (2d. each).
Occupation Centres
Another new publication which has been urgently needed for a long time is Occupation Centres for Mentally Defective Children (price 9d., postage extra). This is intended primarily for the use of local authorities, but it should also be of general interest to those who are concerned with the training of defective children.
Hospital Administration
An interesting innovation is to be introduced by the King Edward’s Hospital Fund, who, it was recently announced, has decided to establish a division of hospital facilities which will comprise an information bureau and advisory service, a library of hospital books and other publications, and an index to the hospital literature of this and other countries.
The division, the Director of which will be Captain J. E. Stone, is intended to assist hospital authorities to obtain a comprehensive review of thought and practice in hospital organization and management, and should also be useful to holders of bursaries, students of hospital administration, organizations interested in hospital work and practice, hospital committees and architects, and officials and other visitors from overseas who desire knowledge of hospital affairs in this country; in addition it should be a valuable centre for administrative research. This centralization of information should prove not only of great value to all concerned, but also time-saving. The King Edward’s Hospital Fund is to be congratulated on its enterprise in initiating a service which should fulfil a most useful function and promote a wide diffusion of ideas and knowledge.
” The Needs that Remain ” The publication of Lord Beveridge’s report on “Voluntary Action” is an event of importance for all concerned with voluntary organizations, and we hope to publish a review worthy of it in our next issue.
Meantime, we would invite attention to one point of special interest to readers of this Journal?viz., the absence of any consideration (except a passing reference to the certified mental defective) of the needs of the mentally handicapped in the community. In the Preface it is stated that certain forms of voluntary action have had to be omitted from the Report, but even here this particular example of omission is not cited.
This, we suggest, provides another indication of the distance to be travelled before the community as a whole becomes conscious of the significance of mental health and the needs of those who suffer from the lack of it. The field of mental health education has, in fact, hardly begun to be tilled and the task awaiting those workers who have accepted responsibility for it, is almost unlimited in scope.
International Conference on Speech Therapy An International Conference on Speech Therapy was held at the Royal Society of Medicine from September 20th to 24th, and was attended by delegates from 15 different countries, many of whom presented papers. Although, for some, this involved speaking a foreign language, those present were impressed by the high level of performance as well as by the universal appeal of the subjects selected for an audience composed of specialists.
The close relationship between psychological maladjustment and certain types of speech disorders (e.g. stammering) has long been recognized, but it is becoming increasingly realized that some degree of nervous instability is bound up with almost every defect of speech. This fact was demonstrated by one speaker after another during the course of the Conference?with the corollary that the Speech Therapist cannot work successfully in isolation but needs the closest possible contact and co-operation with other specialists, among whom must be included medical and educational psychologists. The titles of the following papers are of particular interest in this connection : ” The Emotional Background of Stammering”; “The Treatment of Child Stammerers through the Principles of Jungian Psychology ” ; ” The Role of Emotional Problems in producing Disorders of Speech ” ; ” The Psychological Approach to the Pre-School Stutterer
These, however, were not the only instances in which the psychological aspect of the problem was stressed. Papers dealing with the effects of head injuries upon speech drew attention to the therapeutic value of early treatment as a means of re-assuring the patient, and the constant endeavour to provide encouragement and a sense of normality in his relationships with other people. The restoration of self-respect is held to be a most vital link in the chain of complete rehabilitation in such cases, and also where the faculty of speech has been impaired through surgical operation (e.g. total laryngectomy) or is imperfect through organic malformation (e.g. cleft palate.)
It may be seen that the Speech Therapist realizes how close is the relationship between mental health and verbal expression, and how great is the need to work with other specialists for the rehabilitation of the patient. To attempt to treat the speech difficulty as an isolated symptom is an out-moded technique.
International Bodies
A sign of the times is the increasing number of organizations which are establishing permanent international connexions, this being especially notable in the social, educational and medical fields. This is a heartening recognition of the fact that the field of human knowledge knows no boundary, and that there is everything to be gained by an interchange of ideas and experiences between all peoples and nations.
In addition to the newly formed international organizations referred to elsewhere in this issue, mention should be made of the World Council for Early Childhood Education established at the international conference which took place in Prague last August. According to the draft constitution, the objects of this world council will be to promote the education of young children of all countries, especially nursery school education, as a contribution to happy childhood and home life and thus promote peace among the nations. An interim commission, of which Lady Allen of Hurtwood is one of the Vice-Chairmen, has been appointed to prepare for the first world assembly which it is proposed to hold in Denmark. Conference of Educational Associations The 32nd Annual Conference of Educational Associations will be held at King’s College, Strand, W.C.2, January 3rd to 9th, 1949. There will be a number of open meetings for which various organizations are providing speakers, and the National Association for Mental Health has arranged for Miss E. M. Bartlett, Ph.D., to speak on ” The Handicap of High Intelligence “. A copy of the printed syllabus may be obtained on application to the Secretary, Mrs. Vera Chedburn, M.A., Conference Office, 169 Strand, W.C.2.
Obituary
Dr Susan Isaacs. With the passing on October 11th, 1948, of Mrs. Susan Isaacs, C.B.E., M.A., D.Sc., this country has lost a distinguished pioneer in the field of child psychology, and one whose work in this connection was widely known in this and other countries. All those engaged in the field of mental health know what a great debt is owed to her work and teaching, and how much she did to promote a wider understanding of the subject among all sections of the community. Her valuable contribution to psychological literature will remain as a lasting memorial to her life’s work, and will continue to inspire and help to guide students of child psychology. Among her best known publications is The Nursery Years (1929).
Dr Isaacs was a keen supporter of the nursery school movement, for which she worked indefatigably, and she also provided important evidence for the Curtis Committee on the care of children. She had been a member of the National Association for Mental Health, and it shares with other bodies with which she was associated a deep sense of loss. The Bishop of Wakefield. The Right Rev. Henry McGowan, D.D., whose death took place recently, was a member for several years of the National Association for Mental Health which has particular cause to remember with gratitude his part in launching the Birmingham and Midland Branch of the Association of which he became the first Chairman, when Archdeacon of Aston-. The Bishop was well known for the keen interest he showed in all aspects of community life, not least of which was the subject of mental health, and the encouragement which he gave to the Birmingham Association undoubtedly helped to place it on a firm foundation and influenced many supporters. The Association has lost a valued friend, and deep sympathy is extended to his widow and family in their bereavement.
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Social Workers in Mental Health
In view of the acute shortage of trained social workers in the mental health field, and the increasing demand for services of this kind which experience and also recent legislation have served to enhance, a special Committee has now been set up by the Minister of Health to consider and make recommendations on questions relating to the supply and demand, training and qualifications of social workers in the mental health service. An interim report on psychiatric social workers is also to be presented.
Professor J. M. Mackintosh, Dean of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London University, is Chairman of the Committee which includes among others Dr J. B. S. Lewis, late Medical Superintendent of St. Bernard’s Mental Hospital, Southall; Dr R. M. Bates, Medical Superintendent, Royal Eastern Counties Institution for Mental Defectives, Colchester; Dr Kenneth Soddy, late Medical Director of the National Association for Mental Health; Miss S. Clement Brown, member of the Association of Psychiatric Social Workers, and Miss J. M. Mackenzie, Secretary of the Training and Education Department of the National Association for Mental Health. The Association has been invited to give evidence and has prepared a memorandum for submission to the Committee.
Dr Alfred Torrie
We have pleasure in announcing that Dr Alfred Torrie, formerly Director of Army Psychiatry, has been appointed Medical Director of the National Association for Mental Health in succession to Dr. Kenneth Soddy, whose resignation was reported in our last issue.
Dr Torrie, who had a distinguished war record and attained the Army rank of Brigadier, has been closely associated with the Mental Health movement for many years. For some time he was Hon. Secretary of the Prevention and Early Treatment Committee of the National Council for Mental Hygiene. He is well known in the National Association and has served on its Public Relations Committee.