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Apr 15, 2021 · Innovative approaches to strengthen the public mental health strategy warrant careful deliberation. This article reintroduces and explores the conceptual framework of mental hygiene. The concept of mental hygiene was originally introduced in the early 20th century, with the aim of preventing and treating mental illness and milder mental disorders.
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In fact, personal hygiene and mental health share a connection that goes deeper than the superficial layer of skin and appearances. Our mental well-being is inherently tied to how we carry ourselves and the care we deliver to our bodies. Taking the time to maintain personal hygiene provides a vast array of benefits for our mind, mood, and ...
- Sebastian Evans
- Overview
- Early institutions
- Modern approaches
mental hygiene, the science of maintaining mental health and preventing the development of psychosis, neurosis, or other mental disorders.
Since the founding of the United Nations the concepts of mental health and hygiene have achieved international acceptance. As defined in the 1946 constitution of the World Health Organization, “health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” The term mental health represents a variety of human aspirations: rehabilitation of the mentally disturbed, prevention of mental disorder, reduction of tension in a stressful world, and attainment of a state of well-being in which the individual functions at a level consistent with his or her mental potential. As noted by the World Federation for Mental Health, the concept of optimum mental health refers not to an absolute or ideal state but to the best possible state insofar as circumstances are alterable. Mental health is regarded as a condition of the individual, relative to the capacities and social-environmental context of that person. Mental hygiene includes all measures taken to promote and to preserve mental health. Community mental health refers to the extent to which the organization and functioning of the community determines, or is conducive to, the mental health of its members.
The history of care for the mentally ill reflects human cultural diversity. The earliest known mental hospitals were established in the Arab world, in Baghdad (ad 918) and in Cairo, with that special consideration traditionally given disturbed people, the “afflicted of Allāh.” Some contemporary African tribes benignly regard hallucinations as communications from the realm of the spirits; among others, Hindu culture shows remarkable tolerance for what is considered to be bizarre behaviour in Western societies. The Western interpretation of mental illness as being caused by demonic possession reached its height during a prolonged period of preoccupation with witchcraft (15th through 17th century) in Europe and in colonial North America.
So-called madhouses such as Bedlam (founded in London in 1247) and the Bicêtre (the Paris asylum for men) were typical of 18th-century mental institutions in which the sufferers were routinely shackled. Inmates of these places often were believed to be devoid of human feeling, and their management was indifferent if not brutal; the primary consideration was to isolate the mentally disturbed from ordinary society. In British colonial America, mentally deranged persons frequently were auctioned off to be cared for (or exploited) by farmers; some were driven from towns by court order, and others were placed in almshouses. Only after more than a century of colonization was the first British colonial asylum for the insane established in Williamsburg, Va., in 1773. In the 1790s, the French reformer Philippe Pinel scandalized his fellow physicians by removing the chains from 49 inmates of the Bicêtre. At about the same time, William Tuke, a Quaker tea and coffee merchant, founded the York (England) Retreat to provide humane treatment. Benjamin Rush, a physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence, also advocated protection of the rights of the insane. Despite this progress, more than half a century of independence passed in the United States before Dorothea Dix, a teacher from Maine, discovered that in Massachusetts the insane were being jailed along with common criminals. Her personal crusade in the 1840s led to a flurry of institutional expansion and reform in her own country, in Canada, and in Great Britain.
While these pioneering humanitarian efforts tended to improve conditions, one unplanned result was a gradual emphasis on centralized, state-supported facilities in which sufferers were sequestered, often far from family and friends. Largely kept from public scrutiny, the unfortunate inmates of what fashionably were being called mental hospitals increasingly became victims of the old forms of maltreatment and neglect.
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The modern mental-health movement received its first impetus from the energetic leadership of a former mental patient in Connecticut, Clifford Whittingham Beers. First published in 1908, his account of what he endured, A Mind That Found Itself, continues to be reprinted in many languages, inspiring successive generations of students, mental-health workers, and laymen to promote improved conditions of psychiatric care in local communities, in schools, and in hospitals. With the support of prominent persons, including distinguished professionals, Beers in 1908 organized the Connecticut Society for Mental Hygiene, the first association of its kind. In its charter, members were charged with responsibility for the same pursuits that continue to concern mental-health associations to this day: improvement of standards of care for the mentally disturbed, prevention of mental disorder and retardation, the conservation of mental health, and the dissemination of sound information. In New York City less than a year later, on February 19, 1909, Beers led in forming the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, which in turn was instrumental in organizing the National Association for Mental Health in 1950.
While philosophic and scientific bases for an international mental-health movement were richly available, Beers seems to have served as a catalytic spark. Charles Darwin and his contemporaries already had shattered traditional beliefs in an immutable human species with fixed potentialities. By the time Beers began his public agitation, it was beginning to be understood that developing children need not suffer some of the crippling constraints imposed on their parents. A newly emerging scientific psychology had revealed some of the mechanisms by which the environment had its effects on individual adjustment, fostering hopes that parents and community could provide surroundings that would enhance the growth and welfare of children beyond levels once thought possible. In this spirit, the mental-health movement early inspired the establishment of child-guidance clinics and programs of education for parents and for the public in general.
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Feb 10, 2023 · Hygiene is one of the many symptoms that is frequently left out of the mental health conversation. This is largely because the subject is difficult to talk about — many of us feel the weight of stigma when talking about our bodies and our personal habits. However, indifference to hygiene tasks, including showering, brushing teeth, doing ...
May 11, 2022 · Spending even 15 minutes on mental health hygiene each day can bring a host of benefits, from improved mood and better relationships to even deeper concentration and enhanced creativity. "Mental health hygiene includes simple practices that improve our quality of life by preventing negative behaviors and providing emotional stability," said Hui ...
Oct 28, 2019 · Depression, anxiety, PTSD, and even sensory processing disorders can impact our personal hygiene. Let’s talk about it. “It’s Not Just You” is a column written by mental health journalist ...
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Mental hygiene is a type of positive medical practice focused on health instead of sickness and designed to help maintain good emotional and mental wellbeing. The concept dates back to the early 20th century, when American psychiatrist Clifford Beers first defined it as the “set of practice designed to allow a person to enjoy their mental health and be in harmony with their socio-cultural ...
