Transcriber's Note:
Punctuation and possible typographical errors have been changed.
Archaic, variable and inconsistent spelling have been preserved.
Footnotes appear at the end of the text, after the Index.
The cover image was created by the transcriber and placed in the public domain.
MENTAL DISEASES
A Public Health Problem
BY
JAMES V. MAY, M.D.
Superintendent, Boston State Hospital, Boston, Mass.; Fellow, and Chairman
of the Committee on Statistics, of the American Psychiatric Association;
Fellow of the American Medical Association, etc.
Formerly, Superintendent, Grafton State Hospital, North Grafton, Mass.; Medical
Member, The New York State Hospital Commission, Albany, N. Y.;
and Superintendent, Matteawan State Hospital, Beacon, N. Y.
WITH A PREFACE BY
THOMAS W. SALMON, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University; Medical Advisor to the
National Committee for Mental Hygiene, New York City
BOSTON
RICHARD G. BADGER
THE GORHAM PRESS
Copyright, 1922, by Richard G. Badger
All Rights Reserved
Made in the United States of America
The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A.
PREFACE
Interest in mental disorders is no longer confined tothe relatively small number of persons whose duties orfamily ties bring them into daily contact with the mentallyill. Disorders that so profoundly affect human conductwere certain, sooner or later, to attract the attention ofthose who are interested in the study of human behaviorin its broadest relations or who have special responsibilitieswith reference to the conduct of individuals andrequire all the information that they can secure onfactors that modify the reactions of men, women or childrenin the social environments in which they live anddie. Uncertain of themselves until they made sure ofthe sciences upon which their future work was to develop,social workers since the commencement of organizedsocial work in this country demanded of the sciences concernedwith the human mind some information thatmight aid them in dealing with the difficult problems inhuman adaptation which they found constituted the chiefpart of social work. Judges and those who are interestedin penology have within recent years turned alsoto the students of abnormal human behavior for lightupon problems of crime and delinquency. With mentalhygiene becoming firmly established as a practical fieldof preventive medicine, another group of persons notdirectly concerned with the care of the mentally ill hasbecome deeply interested in the forms, types and causesof mental illness. It is by such readers, quite as muchas physicians, medical students and nurses, that Dr.May's work in bringing together the main facts regardingmental diseases and the people who suffer from themwill be appreciated. For those whose interest in the subject[6]is incidental and not part of a life-long study, theinformation here presented will be of special value.There are, it is true, many technical works on mentaldiseases in their medical, social