{"value"=>"<p> <span class=\"title\">The History of the Care for the Mentally Ill in America</span></p> <p>This paper examines the evolution of dance therapy, a young and developing profession. To give a background or context to which dance therapy emerged, a broad history of the treatment for the mentally ill has been presented. This paper explores the changing and shifting social, political and economic systems from which the treatment of the mentally ill evolved. Dance therapy is but a small part within this large and complex changing mental health care system.</p> <p>There are six consistent patterns or trends that influenced care for the mentally ill. They are: 1) how mental health was perceived, 2) what treatment methods were considered affective, 3) who took responsibility for providing for the mentally ill, 4) where did they reside, what kinds of housing or shelter was given, 5) who worked with the mentally ill, which professions cared for them, 6) and who were the patients?</p> <p>The time frame covered is: seventeenth century colonial America when the mentally ill were treated cruelly or by neglect; the climax of the American Revolution into the nineteenth century with the rise of mental hospitals and humane “moral treatment”; the increasing population due to immigration and the subsequent decline in humane care with the rise in long term institutionalization; the emphasis on the “mental hygiene movement” at the turn of the twentieth century, through the world wars; finally the emphasis on “community mental health centers” and the deinstitutionalization movement by the latter part of the twentieth century.</p> <p>The appearance of dance therapy during the twentieth century and the development of the profession are discussed. This paper explores the events that encouraged the emergence of the dance therapy profession within the health care system and within society today.</p>"}