Mental Health Act 1959
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| Long title | An Act to Repeal the Lunacy and mental Treatment Acts 1890 to 1930, and the Mental Deficiency Acts 1913 to 1938, and to make fresh provisions with respect to the treatment and care of mentally disordered persons and with respect to their property and affairs, and for purposes connected with matters aforesaid. |
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| Citation | 20 |
| Dates | |
| Royal Assent | 29 July 1959 |
| Commencement | 1 November 1960 |
| Text of the Mental Health Act 1959 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database | |
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The main provisions of the 1959 Mental Health Act were to abolish the distinction between psychiatric hospitals and other types of hospitals and to de-instituitionalise mental health patients and see them treated more by community care.[1]
The act also defined the term mental disorder 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”.[2]
At the time of the act 0.4% of the population of England were housed in asylums receiving the standard treatments of the time.[3] 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.[4]
The Act repealed the Lunacy and Mental Treatment Acts 1890 to 1930 and the Mental Deficiency Acts 1913 to 1938.
One of the changes introduced by the Act was the abolishment of the category of "moral imbecile".[5] This category, which had been introduced in 1913, had been defined in so vague terms that it had allowed also 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.[6]
References
- ↑ "The Origins of Community Care", BBC News, 13 October 1999, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/229517.stm
- ↑ History of legislation on disability, Rescare, http://rescare.org.uk/history-of-legislation-on-disability/
- ↑ A brief history of specialist mental health services, S Lawton-Smith and A McCulloch, Mental Health Foundation, http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/content/assets/pdf/publications/starting-today-background-paper-1.pdf
- ↑ Ministry of Health: Mental Health Act 1959 General Policy, Registered Files (95,200 Series), The National Archives, http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C10978
- ↑ Mary P. Lindsey (11 March 2002). Dictionary of Mental Handicap. Routledge. p. 208. ISBN 978-1-134-97199-2.
- ↑ Peter Higginbotham (31 March 2012). The Workhouse Encyclopedia. History Press Limited. p. 169. ISBN 978-0-7524-7719-0.