Mental Health and Ideals of Citizenship: Patient Care at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C., 1903--1962
Gambino, Matthew Joseph
This item is only available for download by members of the University of Illinois community. Students, faculty, and staff at the U of I may log in with your NetID and password to view the item. If you are trying to access an Illinois-restricted dissertation or thesis, you can request a copy through your library's Inter-Library Loan office or purchase a copy directly from ProQuest.
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/84714
Description
Title
Mental Health and Ideals of Citizenship: Patient Care at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C., 1903--1962
Author(s)
Gambino, Matthew Joseph
Issue Date
2010
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Micale, Mark S.
Leslie J. Reagan
Department of Study
History
Discipline
History
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery
Language
eng
Abstract
The post-World War II era witnessed important changes in both psychiatrists' vision of U.S. citizenship and the institutional culture at St. Elizabeths. Physicians took an increasingly liberal view of race relations under Winfred Overholser, who succeeded White as superintendent in 1937 and was prompted by national developments to integrate the hospital in 1954. These same psychiatrists promoted a restrictive domestic ideal for their female patients, in spite of the fact that middle-class married women were entering the labor market in unprecedented numbers. Physicians charted a cautious middle path in debates on homosexuality, maintaining that same-sex desires signified deep psychological maladjustment even as they protested policies criminalizing consensual sexual contact between adults. These developments occurred in the context of a general liberalization of institutional culture in the postwar decades. Through their own efforts as well as through innovations in clinical psychiatry, patients in the 1940s and 1950s found new opportunities for self-expression and began to articulate a novel sense of shared identity. By the time the major tranquilizers appeared, the appropriateness of long-term custodial care for psychologically-impaired men and women had already come into question.
Use this login method if you
don't
have an
@illinois.edu
email address.
(Oops, I do have one)
IDEALS migrated to a new platform on June 23, 2022. If you created
your account prior to this date, you will have to reset your password
using the forgot-password link below.
