MENTAL PATIENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20521, 24 March 1930, Page 11

MENTAL PATIENTS.

AN OBSERVATION WARD, ARRANGEMENT AT AVONDALE. MINISTER EXPLAINS POLICY. The decision to convert, the residence of the medical superintendent at the Auckland Mental Hospital into an observation ward was -discussed by a deputation from the Mount Albert Borough Council, which waited on the Minister of Health, the Hon. A. .T. Stallworthy, on Saturday. The speakers, who were introduced by Mr. G. C. Munns, M.P. for Roskill, expressed opposition to the proposal. The Minister, while expressing sympathy with the deputation's point of view, said that if the position were more fully understood he believed the opposition would disappear. He pleaded for a saner appreciation of the problems of mental hygiene and a more humane attitude toward the mentally afflicted. The doctor's residence was to be converted into an observation institute and was not intended to accommodate chronic or semi-chronic cases from the main mental hospital. Statistics showed that the percentage of recovery in cases of mental illness was just as high as in cases of physical illness, and it was cruel to suggest that because persons were suffering mentally, perhaps only temporarily, that they should be cast like lepers outside the gates of the city or beyond the pale of human society.

It had been found that the shock of finding themselves placed under observation in a mental hospital had acted disastrously on many potential cases of mental trouble, said the Minister. The department's aim was to obviate this almost cruel policy, and to provide an observation ward away from the mental hospital, but sufficiently close to permit of efficient control by experts. Tho deputation expressed satisfaction with the explanation offered by the Minister and willingness to co-operate in the policy.