The mental hygiene movement and autism

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The purpose of the mental hygiene movement which flourished in the United States and Canada in the first three or four decades of the 20th century was to make people "think better, feel better and act better".

The central importance given by the mental hygiene movement to personality development in children meant that the school system had a significant responsibility for this development. Advocates of the mental hygiene movement in schools were convinced by the result of IQ tests of the necessity for more special classes together with the early identification of problems.

By the 1920s mental hygienists were

(Cohen. S. 1983. The mental hygiene movement, the development of personality and the school: The medicalization of American education. History of Education Quarterly 23: pp. 123-149.). It is available online here: http://www.jstor.org/stable/368156 .

These would have included autistic children, though at the time autism was not a diagnostic category. Majia Halmer Nadesan writes in her book Constructing Autism: Unravelling the "Truth" and Understanding the Social , Routledge (2005) that Much of that book is published online here: http://www.google.co.uk/books?id=n8NQNYorbxcC .

Eugenics was the extremist, pseudo-scientific fringe of the mental hygiene movement.

these days i would think they should be identifying sociopaths at school. but i suppose that's too sensible.

I certainly wasn't regarded as a problem at school and I was born in 1957. The only kids who were a 'problem' were the ones who were completely unable to keep up with the academic requirements and these kids tended to get selected out, examined, and often, sent off to a 'special' school. I think their parents were often told they were ret*d or 'simple'.

It still lurks in the shadows. One problem is how we define what a "perfect" or "better" human actually is. The rule of thumb would appear to be "just like me". There is no objective specification or manual that details what a human should be. Has anyone ever heard of a eugenicist who's selection criteria excludes himself?

BTW The Nadesan book looks absolutely fascinating! Thanks for the link. After reading some of the extracts, I'm going to have to buy it. I support the idea that health, especially mental health, has a large amount of cultural influence on it. Although maybe that belief is just a symptom of my own flaws?

Born only a few years later, that reflects my experience, too. In hindsight, I did have terrible problems at school, but as I was academically ahead of the pack, I was not defined as a 'problem'. Probably would be singled out now as the emphasis on 'social skills' in children from the day they are born has increased greatly.

In some ways, the academic aspects have been dumbed down, in part due to the collective guilt at that labelling you describe. Things turn full circle and maybe one day there will be collective guilt at the way that introverted children (and adults) are treated these days.

Hmmm......mental hygeine.......it may have its good points, but the name has a creepy ring to it, don't you think?

Sounds like they want to clean out your mind. Scary! Like the dentist's office. "Have you been flossing your mind regularly like we discussed on your last visit?" Sound of the drill in the next room. "Looks like you may have to have a few thoughts pulled."
(Extraction of the Stone of Madness) The cure of folly.

Indeed.....though I guess it shows how our culture has moved on since those days, given that they could get away with it. If I remember right, even as recently as the 1950s and 60s, such a phrase wouldn't have aroused any public suspicion, though I knew no radical people back then. I myself would have been quite happy with the notion of psychiatry as a clean-up tool, much as a physician might fight infection of the body. Lovely new disinfectants were at last killing a lot of the horrific germs that used to kill people. "Sanitisation" was a positive notion for me for many years.

It looks like a good read, the way the experience of autism may be different as the social environment changes over the years. I've often marvelled at how much of an Aspie paradise my early school days seems to have been. I loved it, focussing in calm, quiet conditions with an absolutely clear remit and rigid, reliable routines.

The name sounds like they're gonna wash your mind out with soap. Hey, I wouldn't put it past some of these nutjobs...

Very interesting. Thank you for the links/refs.

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When I see the words mental hygiene, I can't help but think of what they use to do to people who were a "problem"....lobotomy!

Mental Hygiene is nothing more than a fancy euphamism for Brain Washing.

I've heard of dental hygienist but not mental hygienist.

I had the label of problem child, and that put me through more torment... Even though the real "problem child"s were the kids tormenting me on a daily basis. My strategy of dealing with it just made it worse for myself. I would forget the specifics and just remember they had done things to me. So naturally when I cracked, and had the meltdowns that I kicked butt and got suspended for, I had no proof of what they had done to cause this (even though the principal was aware of the problems with these kids, but unable to do things because he had no proof of the kid's doings)... Needless to say, that kid was causing problems for a lot of people and getting away with it simply because there was not strong enough proof of the harm he was doing to kids, as it can't be viewed as bullying unless a kid comes forward with specific examples of what he is doing, so he got away with it at the school level. The one kid grew into a druggie that would have benefitted from some childhood intervention but never got it because the school was focusing on the real problem children: undiagnosed autistics, and others being bullied, who clearly needed discipline to behave properly...

Rant for the day... And I appologize for it being written so poorly.

I really like what she has to say about the social construction of Autism:

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I agree, and I don't think it is just a "symptom of your own flaws".

I think that the mental health profession is, in the main, a large scale, institutionalised expression of people's/society's tendency to fear and reject difference which might be a threat to the "group"/those in power in the group.

When the group's success, or the success of those in power within the group, is based on behaviours x, y, z, anyone who does not perform, conform to, blindly agree with, those behaviours, is ostracised.

This used to be done physically, then by labelling people as inferior, but since the Mental Hygiene movement, as Nadesan says, the exclusion is achieved/justified by designating those individuals with behaviours which "don't fit" as dysfunctional, as suffering from disorders.

The concept/idea of autism, ( and the autism spectrum, which is so inclusive that it functions as a bogeyman; " you might be ... " ), works to defuse the tension created by people suffering from the way that society is organised, ( which enables/benefits some and disables others ).

The idea of autism allows society to say to people who are being excluded; "It's not your fault, you were born that way, but it is because you are dysfunctional that you have difficulty, not because society is currently favouring and enabling a different set of behaviours ".

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This fits with what John Taylor Gatto writes about in his "Underground History of School", online at:
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com

He has looked at hundreds of documents both describing and contributing to the design /construction of school. In an excellent article on the real purposes of school, at:

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/hp/frames.htm



And there is a poem, written by a teenager a week before they committed suicide, called "He was Square inside, and Brown" at:

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/undergro ... logue5.htm

( which is desperately sad ). And see the bit about the child diagnosed with ADHD below it, too.
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Last edited by ouinon on 11 Mar 2009, 9:16 am, edited 1 time in total.