International Congress On Mental Health
| Published date | 01 January 1949 |
| Author | Florence Smith,F. Clifford Chambers |
| Date | 01 January 1949 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455054900501904 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
25I
INTERNATIONAL
CONGRESS
ON
MENTAL
HEALTH
Extracts
from
the
Report
of
the
Official
Delegates
from
the
National
Association
of
Probation
Officers:
Florence
Smith
(S.P.O.,
Winchester),
and
F.
Clifford
Chambers
(P.P.O.,
formerly
Wiltshire,
now
Hampshire).
The
Congress
was
divided
into
three
Conferences,
dealing
with
Child
Psychiatry,
Medical
Psychotherapy,
and
Mental
Hygiene.
Each
Conference
was
sub-divided
into
three
sections,
i.e.,
plenary
sessions,
specialist
meetings,
and
discussion
groups.
The
National
Association
of
Probation
Officers
was
concerned
mainly
with
the
third
and
largest
Conference,
i.e..
that
dealing
with
Mental
Hygiene.,
The
delegates
were
able
to
attend
all
the
plenary
sessions
dealing
with
mental
hygiene,
with
the
exception
of
the
closing
period
on
August
21.
In
addition,
full
attendance
was
given
to
the
meetings
of
the
specialist
group
under
the
aegis
of
the
Institute
for
the
Scientific
Treatment
of
Delinquency.
The
general
theme
of
the
Mental
Hygiene
Conference
was
&dquo; Mental
Health
and
World
Citizenship.&dquo;
A
specific
topic
was
dealt
with
each
day
and
was
related
to
the
theme
as
follows:
Problems
of
world
citizenship
and’
good
group
relations;
.
The
Individual
and
Society;
Family
problems
and
psychological
disturbance;
Mental
health
in
industry;
Planning
for
mental
health.
It
must
be
recognised
that
this
was
a
Conference
of
experts
of
international
repute,
interested
not
only
in
psychiatry
and
psychology,
but
in
anthropology
together
with
all
the
other
sciences
concerned
with
mental
and
physical
problems
of
humanity.
In
this
setting,
delin-
quency
was
obviously
but
a
small
part
in
spite
of
all
that
we,
as
probation
officers,
hear
to
the
contrary.
Each
plenary
session
was
opened
by
a
chosen
speaker
who
took
the
broad
aspect
of
the
topic
for
the
day.
The
opening
was
followed
by
a
member
of
the
International
Preparatory
Commission
presenting
the
main
findings,
in
precis
form,
of
the
hundreds
of
preparatory
commis-
sion
reports
submitted
from
all
over
the
world.
The
memorandum
submitted
by
the
National
Association
of
Probation
Offices
had
been
incorporated
in
the
report
submitted
by
Dr.
Hermann
Mannheim.
The
session
was
later
open
for
discussion,
in
which
certain
selected
speakers
of
eminent
repute
in
their
own
specialised
field
took
part.
At
no
point
during
these
sessions
did
it
appear
appro-
priate,
desirable,
or
necessary
for
any
intervention
on
the
part
of
the
delegates
from
N.A.P.O.,
as
the
functions
and
scope
of
the
Probation
Service
seemed
to
be
adequately
appreciated
by
the
various
speakers
and,
indeed,
there
were
complimentary
references
as
to
case
work
and
case
histories
supplied
by
the
members
of
the
Service.
So
many
excellent
reports,
verbatim
and
otherwise,
together
with
translations
of
speeches,
have
been
published
that
it
appeared
to
us
the
best
service
we
could
render
to
the
Association
was
to
collect
the
summaries
So far
as
they
were
available
and
to
comment
on
those
references
which
were
of
special
interest
as
to
delin-
quency,
the
work
of
the
courts,
and
the
functions
of
the
Probation
Service.
When
&dquo; World
citizenship
and
good
group
relations&dquo;
,was
under
discussion,
Dr.
Carl
Binger,
M.D.,
of
Cornell
University,
U.S.A.,
suggested
that
any
unification
of
the
peoples
of
the
world
could
only
be
achieved
in
the
light
of
their
existing
natures,
not
by
wishing
they
were
a
group
of
angels,
when
they
were
in
fact,
just
human
beings
possessed
of
at
least
two
properties
common
to
all-the
tendency
to
gather
into
groups
and
the
urge
to
survive-both
being
inter-related.
Any
threat
to
either
quickly
lead
to
fear
and
consequent
aggression.
He
reminded
the
conference
that
nineteen
out
of
twenty
civilisations
have
gone
to
death
through
war,
internal
conflict,
or
a
combination
of
both.
He
agreed
that
the
present
civilisation
could
not
be
saved
by
scientific
con-
ferences
and,
indeed,
offered
no
solution,
but
pointed
out
that
politicians
or
statesmen
would
not
consider
waging
war
without
the
assistance
of
scientists,
and
that
it
was
feasible
that
those
same
scientists
could
be
of
assistance
in
preventing
war.
The
general
impression
remaining
was
that
until
world
citizenship
in
its
fullest
sense
had
been
established
there
was
little
real
hope
of
preventing
war
for
any
length
of
time.
Many
of
the
remarks
suggesting
insecurity
as
a
mainspring
of
unrest,
could
obviously
be
correlated
to
the
individual
and
the
drift
towards
delinquency.
Professor
T.
Segerstedt
of
Sweden,
in
discussing
&dquo; Family
Problems&dquo;
seemed
to
suggest
that
anything
wrong
with
sexual
relations
between
parents
would
prejudice
relationships
between
them
and
their
children.
A
more
enlightened
attitude
towards
the
problem
of
women
and
illegitimate
children
might
assist
towards
solving
some
of
the
difficulties
of
psychological
disturb-
ance-some
enlargement
of
the
theory
that
every
woman
should
be
allowed
to
achieve
the
culmination
of
a
natural
desire
of
childbearing
was
linked
with
this
theme,
especially
where
the
questions
of
pre-marital
sex
experience
and
the
stigma
of
the
illegitimate
child
are
concerned.
The
problem
seemed
to
be
whether
any
lowering
of
an
accepted
standard
of
behaviour
in
this
field
would_
be
of
benefit
to
the
community
in
the
lessening
of
that
psychological
disturbance.
During
the
discussion
on
&dquo; Mental
Health
in
Industry &dquo;,
there
was
much
difference
of
opinion
between
the
experts,
together
with
a
suggestion
of
competition
between
the
various
sections
as
to
which
was
able
to
offer
the
most
assistance.
During
discussion,
Dr.
Hargreaves
suggested
that
the
workroom
could
not
be
separated
from
society,
illustrating
this
by
the
influence
the
home
life
of
a
factory
foreman
may
have
on
his
relations
with
those
he
controls
at
work,
and
vice
versa.
He
stressed
the
need
for
combination
of
diagnosis
and
therapy,
neither
being
complete
without
the
other.
This
is
of
interest
in
our
own
work
in
con-
nection
with
Child
Guidance
Clinics,
Other
speakers
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