Recent Advances in Public Health
- Author:
Burn, M.D.,
D.Hy., D.P.H. Pp. 409. J. & A. Churchill, Ltd. 25s.
The stage is well set for the entry of a book such as this. Comparing it with our 30-year old Parkes and Kenwood we are struck by the change in Public Health. It has increased and developed its old aspects, enlarged its borders and moved into fields unknown and unexplored a quarter of a century ago. Perhaps the most outstanding change is the accent now laid on education. Chapter after chapter of this book stresses the value of educating the public to keep fit and to avoid disease and accident, so producing, of necessity, a physical health consciousness.
The importance of the spiritual, psychological, or mental aspect of the total individual, in the eyes of the readers for whom this book is written, can be assessed by the number of pages devoted to this part of the personality, 17 of a total of 407. Although the author quotes, on the first page of his book, that health is “a state of being hale, sound or whole, in body, mind or soul although he refers to psychological matters on pages other than the seventeen; and although he points out that, owing to limitations of space, many recent advances must be omitted, the driving and guiding force of all human activity is under-emphasized. A deep significance lies in this education for physical fitness, and avoidance of danger of accidents, both in the Home and on the Road, are included here. There is a grave risk of the development of the all-pervading growth of fear, a fear of illness with its expenditure of time on material matters rather than on the psychological processes that control the body. The spread of timidity and the loss of initiative, from ” spoon-feeding ” the public, are great prices to pay for the reduction of physical disease.
The seventeen pages of the psychological section deal with Preventive Mental Hygiene, Homes for Mothers, Nursery Schools, Mental Health Clinics, Environment and Leisure. The National Association for Mental Health is dismissed in 18 lines, but the Child Guidance Service is given, greater consideration. Larkhills School at Winchester and the Children’s Centre at Chesterfield are described in some detail. The Care of the Epileptic and Occupation Centres for Mental Defectives bring the mental health chapter to a close.
A chapter is devoted to Rehabilitation, but, even here, little space is given to psychological matters. Occupational therapy, although discussed over two pages, is not considered sufficiently worthy to be mentioned in the index. We were disappointed to see no reference to Dr Elizabeth Casson as being the originator and founder of the first School of Occupational Therapy in this country.
This book has great value. For the worker in the sphere of mental trouble who needs to know in what manner psychological cases can be helped from the physical aspect, Dr Burn’s book is a mine of important information. It shows the worker the successes of public health, and if some local authorities are less advanced than others, the mental health worker may be able to stimulate the first to reach the high level of the second, as recounted in this volume. G.deM.
Disclaimer
The historical material in this project falls into one of three categories for clearances and permissions:
Material currently under copyright, made available with a Creative Commons license chosen by the publisher.
Material that is in the public domain
Material identified by the Welcome Trust as an Orphan Work, made available with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
While we are in the process of adding metadata to the articles, please check the article at its original source for specific copyrights.