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Community activism and community mental health: A chimera of the sixties, a view from the eighties
Author(s) -
Robin Stanley S.,
Wagenfeld Morton O.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6629(198807)16:3<273::aid-jcop2290160303>3.0.co;2-j
Subject(s) - mental health , ideology , middle eastern mental health issues & syndromes , psychology , community health , context (archaeology) , politics , sociology , political science , medicine , psychiatry , mental health law , public health , nursing , geography , law , archaeology
The conclusion that the decline of community mental health is primarily a result of the current political, social, and fiscal environment is examined in this paper. Following an analysis of the community mental health movement, its ideology and origins, data from several studies are cited to support the thesis that community mental health ideology was not internalized by community mental health center directors and workers, as demonstrated in their attitudes or role behaviors. The data are supported by analysis of the division of time and effort in the activities of community mental health centers during the 1970s. Since these data were gathered at the height of the community mental health movement, the current state of the movement is interpreted in part as a reflection of the basic lack of ideological and role commitment to it on the part of staff in community mental health centers. These observations are discussed in the context of community mental health as an incomplete social movement.