ABSTRACT
The community mental health centers movement was very much a product of the federal government, but it must be understood within the context of the State in general. It served and responded to not only federal needs, but also to local and state governments. In order to better understand how such control served the State, it is necessary to understand what the concept of State functions includes. The creation of the National Institute of Mental Health, in 1946, within the Public Health Service marked a formal shift in federal mental health policy away from narrowly defined service markets, such as the military, and toward increased federal intervention into the general service market. Although mental illness was recognized as a serious national issue after the shell shock cases of World War I, the need for services seemed to fade from the national consciousness after the War.
