The Community Mental Health Act of 1963

The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 (CMHA of 1963), also known as the Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act, was an act that was passed as part of John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier plan.  The community mental health act of ’63 helped provide federal mental health funding for community mental health centers in the United States.   

These centers were a new idea as persons with mental illness were most often placed in some form of hospital or other institution not necessarily considered to be interactive with or a part of the community or neighboring communities.

The emphasis with the CMHA of 1963 was on shifting from hospitalizations and institutions to community based housing and treatment centers aimed to help treat persons with mental illness in the community, using the community as a part of this process, rather than keeping these individuals out of the community.

While this act received “mixed reviews” and results because people were uneasy about the idea persons with mental illness in the community, it helped pave the way for providing more equal human rights for individuals with mental illness.  CMHA of 1963 helped to provided more balanced access to a sense of community and normalcy for individuals.  It helped them to feel more like people and less like patients. 

While persons with mental illness will usually require additional services such as counseling and supplemental income, moving away from institutionalization was a positive step toward helping these people rather than simply detaining them in a hospital or possibly even imprisonment. 

More information on CMHA from Duke's journal of health politics, policy and law: http://jhppl.dukejournals.org/content/9/1/1.abstract

The following video displays some treatments used for mental disorders in mental institutions during the early 20th century.