This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal

The Short-Circuit of the Mental Health Movement

Anthony F. Panzetta, MD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1971;25(4):291-297.

Abstract
The community mental health movement has glorified the concept of community without adequately understanding it. The creation of the "catchment area" has been confused with a gemeinschaft community when, in fact, these are rare. This approach also predisposes towards sociological preoccupation and the neglect of individual disorders. Most gemeinschaft communities today are epiphenomenal and depend on conditions of oppression and militant leadership. Representative voice from such a community about mental health matters is not likely. It is more likely that the representative voice of the community will be possible only in areas directly related to their common oppression. Debate over community control is illusory and unproductive. The important need is for organizational sensitivity and that may be unrelated to community control.

Author Affiliations
Philadelphia

From the Health Sciences Center, Temple University Medical School, Philadelphia.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication Jan 28, 1971.

This communication appears as a chapter from Community Mental Health: Myth and Reality, Philadelphia, Lea & Febiger Publishers, 1971.

Reprint requests to Health Sciences Center, Temple University Medical School, Philadelphia 19104 (Dr. Panzetta).

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

The Problem with Community in Planning
Talen
Journal of Planning Literature 2000;15:171-183.
ABSTRACT