MENTAL HYGIENE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 20 February 1931, Page 6

MENTAL HYGIENE

A VITAL PROBLEM BOOK AND ITS SEQUEL VISIT OF AUTHOR (Contributed by the Mental Hospitals Department.) Mr Clifford W. Beers, author of a remarkable book, “A Mind that Found Itself,” and founder of the successful international mental hygiene movement, will arrive at Auckland oil 23rcl March by the Aorangi, and will spend several weeks in New Zealand. Mr Beers was a New Haven, boy who graduated from Yale University, United States, in 1897, and in 1900 broke down mentally, and became a patient in a mental hospital. In September. 1903. after a little over three years of mental illness, he recovered. So far, the experience was by no means an unusual one. The wonders were to follow. lor this recovered mental patient did not put, his sufferings behind him and strive to forget them. He remembered his own experiences, and he remembered the hundreds of thousands who were going through similar experiences, and would go through them in years to come. With lecovered sanity, he retained the crusading zeal of his period of abnormal mental life. He abandoned his "business career to devote his life to the cause of the prevention and better treatment of mental disease. He had. the courage to set clown and publish every detail of his experience. “A Mind that Found Itself” has now gone through fifteen editions, and is regarded by competent authorities as a classic.

LEADING MENTAL SPECIALISTS

The mental hygiene movement has spread to all the civilised countries of the world, and is supported by leading mental specialists in all lands. Its object- is, as stated, the prevention and cure of mental disorders, and to ameliorate the care of the mentally ill. The value of Dir Beers’ book was immediately recognised by prominent public men. including mental specialists. Mr William James, the noted author, wrote to Dir Beers as follows: “You have handled a difficult theme with great skill, and produced a narrative of absorbing interest to scientist as well as lo layman. It reads like fiction, but it, is not- fiction; and this 1 stale emphatically, knowing how prone the uninitiated are to doubt the truthfulness of description of abnormal mental processes. I think that your tenacity of purpose, foresight, tact, temper, discretion, and patience arc beyond all praise, and I esteem it an honour to have been in any way associated with you. Your name will loom big hereafter, for your movement must prosper.”

“SURPASSING ALL EXPECTATIONS” The success, far surpassing all expectations, of (the fi,rst (international congress on m'ental hygiene _ recently held at Washington was striking evidence of the great progress of the movement for mental health. Public interest has been awakened lo the magnitude, urgency, and importance of the problem in this field. Never was there a movement more timely and more needed, for it is apparent that with the complex conditions of modern life, the future progress of society, as well as the welfare of the individual, are dependent as never before upon healthy minds capable of sound reasoning and intelligent thinking. Mental hygiene presents to-day the leading health problem of the world. Although the main object of Mr Beers in visiting New Zealand is to enjoy a holiday and rest, he will deliver public addresses at Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin on the mental hygiene movement. A tentative itinerary of his visit lias been arranged. Dr. Ralph Noble, the well-known mental specialist of Sydney, and a member of the International Mental Hygiene Committee, will make a special visit to New Zealand to take part in the welcome lo Mr Beers, and will accompany him during part of his tour. The Director-General of DTcnJal Hospitals and the departmental officers are co-operating with the New Zealand Committee of Mental Hygiene to ensure the success of Mr Beers’ stay in New Zealand. One of the objects ot Mr Beers in coming to New Zealand is to stimulate and help to focus interest in mental hygiene work ill New Zealand. During the past fifty years a remarkable advance has been made 'in preventive medicine, especially in the practical elimination of many infectious diseases. It is reasonable to anticipate that similar far-reaching results will follow organised effort in the field of mental hygiene.