MENTAL DISORDERS

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 2 May 1923, Page 5

MENTAL DISORDERS

BORDERLINE CASES.

(BY TELEGRAPH —VBESS ASSOCIATION.) '. AUCKLAND, May 1. ( A suggestion that better provision should be made for the reception and treatment of borderline, or incipient ?ases of mental disorder, was made to ;he Hon. C. J. Parr (Minister of Health) !>y a deputation comprising Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist ministers, supported by citiaens and Salvationists. The Rev. Jasper Calder expressed bis private view that if the Minister thought this was not a Government matter a syndicate of public-spirited men might take up the proposal if it ft'as recognised and subsidised by the State. Another speaker said the deputation had entire confidence in the administration of mental hospitals, but it was felt that the policy of the Government, laid down some years ago, was that there should be homes separate from mental institutions for the reception and ,. treatment of incipient insanity and voluntary boarders. The system, was working admirably in the South Island, l'here should be adequate safeguards before committal. The Minister, replying, said he personally was in hearty accord with the suggestion that there should be some form'1-of reception home, apart from mental hospitals, where borderline cases could be dealt with. Of 210 patients received in reception homes, only 11 ultimately became' insane. Quoting From a report by Dr. Hay, the Minister mentioned that the recovery rate of ordinary patients was highly satisfactoi-y, being 43 per cent, calculated on admissions. He mentioned incidentally, but he did not favour, the idea of private homes, as the prvileges given to such institutions had been abused in too many instances in the past. He promised to visit the Woolfe Home, in Auckland, shortly in connection with the matter. .