Clifford Whittingham Beers (March 30, 1876 – July 9, 1943) was the founder of the American mental hygiene movement.

Biography

Beers was born in

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

, to Ida and Robert Beers on March 30, 1876. He was one of five children, all of whom would suffer from psychological distress and would spend time in mental institutions, including Beers himself (see "Clifford W. Beers, Advocate for the Insane"). He graduated from the

Sheffield Scientific School Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Joseph E. Sheffiel ...

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

in 1897, where he was business manager of ''

The Yale Record ''The Yale Record'' is the campus humor magazine of Yale University. Founded in 1872, it became the oldest humor magazine in the world when ''Punch'' folded in 2002."History", The Yale Record, March 10, 2010. http://www.yalerecord.com/about/histo ...

'' and a member of Berzelius."Clifford Whittingham Beers". ''History of the Class of 1897, Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University: Decennial Record 1897–1907''. New Haven: The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company. 1907. p. 4. In 1900 he was first confined to a private

mental institution 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 ...

for depression and

paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy co ...

. He would later be confined to another private hospital as well as a state institution. During these periods he experienced and witnessed serious maltreatment at the hands of the staff. His book
A Mind That Found Itself
' (1908), an

autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

account of his hospitalization and the abuses he suffered, was widely and favorably reviewed, became a bestseller, and is still in print. Beers gained the support of the medical profession and others in the work to reform the treatment of the mentally ill. In 1908 Beers founded the "Connecticut Society for Mental Hygiene", now name
Mental Health Connecticut
In 1909 Beers founded the "National Committee for Mental Hygiene", now named "Mental Health America", in order to continue the reform for the treatment of the mentally ill. He also started the Clifford Beers Clinic in

in 1913, the first outpatient mental health clinic in the United States. Beers became Honorary President of the

World Federation for Mental Health The World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) is an international, multi-professional non-governmental organization (NGO), including citizen volunteers and former patients. It was founded in 1948 in the same era as the United Nations (UN) and the W ...

. Beers was a leader in the field until his retirement in 1939. He died in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

, on July 9, 1943.

The Extra Mile The Extra Mile – Points of Light Volunteer Pathway is a memorial in Washington D.C. Located adjacent to the White House, the monument is composed of 34 bronze medallions honoring people who "through their caring and personal sacrifice, reached ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, selected Beers as one of its 37 honorees. The Extra Mile pays homage to Americans like Beers who set their own self-interest aside to help others and successfully brought positive social change to the United States.

References

Bibliography

*Clifford Beers, ''A Mind That Found Itself'', Pittsburgh and London:

University of Pittsburgh Press The University of Pittsburgh Press is a scholarly publishing house and a major American university press, part of the University of Pittsburgh. The university and the press are located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The press ...

, 1981 *Norman Dain, ''Clifford W. Beers, Advocate for the Insane'', Pittsburgh:

, 1980

External links

Clifford Beers Clinic

The Clifford Beers Foundation
* *
Mental Health America (MHA)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beers, Clifford Whittingham 1876 births 1943 deaths American memoirists Writers from New Haven, Connecticut Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science alumni Mental health activists