ABSTRACT
Between January 1927 and December 1932 fifty MPs participated in the debates on mental illness. The figure of fifty MPs constitutes less than 10% of the House of Commons membership. The politicians viewed mental illness "like a physical illness" and therefore usually not incurable. The public was urged to adhere to this concept of mental illness on the assumption that such an acceptance would minimize or eliminate the stigma. It should be remembered that the politicians' positive stand towards voluntary admission and discharge was in contrast to the suspicious reaction this idea received mainly from the general public. The politicians have opted for strengthening the domination of mainstream psychiatry in two of the main measures of the 1930 Mental Treatment Act: the rejection of a role for magistrates in voluntary admission and the creation of the status of voluntary patienthood inside the hospital enhanced the power of psychiatrists.
