ABSTRACT
Society has many ways of dealing with the care and treatment of persons who are seen as representing a persistent social problem. Such methods have historically revolved around the dual concepts of custody and treatment. Exactly how a particular society evolves its own means for maintaining social control and stability depends at the broadest level on matters of social policy. These policies, in turn, reflect dominant cultural values that establish the priorities for ordering the allocation of a society’s resources. With respect to the problem of mental health, a long-time student of the ways in which mental health care has been allocated in American society has summed up these issues as follows :
Apparently the treatment of mental illness within the known history of man has been dominated by social, political, and ideological factors. Mental health programs are rooted more in moral and legislative elements than in medical and scientific ones (Freeman, 1965, p. 717).
