The Mental Health Act 1959 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning England and Wales which had, as its main objectives, to abolish the distinction between

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

s and other types of hospitals and to deinstituitionalise mental health patients and see them treated more by community care. It also defined the term

mental disorder A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

for the first time: "mental illness as distinct from learning disability. The definition was “mental illness; arrest or incomplete development of mind; psychopathic disorder; and any other disorder or disability of mind”. At the time, 0.4% of the population of England were housed in asylums, receiving the standard treatments of the time. Their treatment was considered by the 1957 Percy Commission and the act resulted from its deliberations. The act was designed to make: * treatment voluntary and informal; * and where compulsory give it a proper legal framework and made as a medical decision; * and to move treatment, where possible, away from institutional care to that in the community. The Act repealed the Lunacy and Mental Treatment Acts 1890 to

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...

and the Mental Deficiency Acts

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...

to 1938. One of the changes introduced by the Act was the abolishment of the category of "moral imbecile". The category, which had been introduced in the 1913 Act, had been defined in such vague terms that it had allowed mothers of illegitimate children, especially in case of repeated births out of wedlock, to be regarded as "moral imbeciles" and thus to be placed in an institution for defectives or to be placed under guardianship.

References

{{reflist, 30em United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1959 Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning England and Wales Legal history of England Mental health legal history of the United Kingdom

See also

References