Massachusetts. Department of Mental Health

Programs and institutions for the mentally ill and retarded of Massachusetts were among the responsibilities successively of the Board of State Charities (St 1863, c 240), the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity (St 1879, c 291), and the State Board of Lunacy and Charity (St 1886, c 101). They were then the sole responsibility successively of the State Board of Insanity (St 1898, c 433), the Massachusetts Commission on Mental Diseases (St 1916, c 285), the Dept. of Mental Diseases (St 1919, c 350, ss 79-81), and the Dept. of Mental Health (St 1938, c 486).

From the description of Facility survey files, 1927-1965. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122405556

The Dept. of Mental Health exercised responsibility for mentally retarded persons in Massachusetts (specifically from 1966 through its Division of Mental Retardation) until 1986, when a separate Dept. of Mental Retardation was established.

From the description of Inspection reports of the Walter E. Fernald State School, 1955-1965. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 82694732

Programs and institutions for the mentally ill and retarded of Massachusetts were among the responsibilities successively of the Board of State Charities (St 1863, c 240), State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity (St 1879, c 291), and State Board of Lunacy and Charity (St 1886, c 101). They were then the sole responsibility successively of the State Board of Insanity (St 1898, c 433), Massachusetts Commission on Mental Diseases (St 1916, c 285), Dept. of Mental Diseases (St 1919, c 350, ss 79-81), and Dept. of Mental Health (St 1938, c 486)

From the description of Institutional registers, 1863-1947 (bulk 1863-1907). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 83622650

From the description of Admissions card files for state institutions, 1910-1950. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 180703139

From the description of Weekly returns of admissions to and discharges from institutions, 1916-1945. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 82481555

From the description of Private facility licensing and inspection files, 1917-1976. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 83176322

The State Board of Insanity, established in 1898, was replaced successively by the Massachusetts Commission on Mental Diseases in 1916 and the Department of Mental Diseases in 1919; that body was renamed the Department of Mental Health in 1938.

From the description of Annual reports, 1899-1955. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122469566

Under the direction of the commissioner of mental health, the Dept. of Mental Health is charged with taking "cognizance of all matters affecting the mental health in Massachusetts." More specifically its primary functions are to provide for services to citizens with long-term or serious mental illness, provide early and ongoing treatment for mental illness, and to conduct research into the causes of mental illness (MGLA c 19, s 1). To carry out these functions, the department maintains a comprehensive area-based system to provide community mental health services, including specialized services for children and adults; supervises and controls all public facilities for the mentally ill; and has general supervision over all private facilities that receive mentally ill persons.

The Dept. of Mental Health was originally established as the State Board of Insanity in 1898, succeeding the State Board of Lunacy and Charity (1886-1898), itself successor to the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity (1879-1886), both vested with responsibility for correctional facilities and almshouses in addition to hospitals for the mentally ill and the mentally retarded. The State Board of Insanity was in turn succeeded by the Massachusetts Commission on Mental Diseases (St 1916, c 285), the Dept. of Mental Diseases (St 1919, c 350, ss 79-81), and finally the Dept. of Mental Health (St 1938, c 486)

Legislation establishing the State Board of Insanity in 1898 provided for an unpaid board of five persons, appointed by the governor, to have general supervision over state hospitals and asylums for the mentally ill and all other public or private facilities for mentally ill and mentally retarded persons, including the Massachusetts Hospital for Epileptics, the Massachusetts Hospital for Dipsomaniacs and Inebriates, the Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded and the Hospital Cottages for Children (St 1898, c 433). Individual hospital boards of trustees, appointed by the governor, continued to be responsible for managing their respective institutions, including the appointing of superintendents.

Like its predecessors, the board acted as commissioners of insanity (as previously per St 1874, c 363), with the power to investigate the sanity of any person committed to any public or private hospital or asylum, to transfer and discharge patients, to board patients in families, and to visit and inspect every public and private facility for the insane at least twice a year. In addition the board was charged with becoming informed about different methods of caring for and treating mentally ill persons and with encouraging scientific investigations into causes and cures of mental illness.

At the time of the board's creation, public hospital inpatients consisted of persons committed by the courts (St 1862, c 223, as amended); they included feeble-minded and epileptic persons, those addicted to the intemperate use of narcotics or stimulants, and those with chronic or acute cases of mental illness. Financial support for these patients varied: insane paupers who were residents of towns were supported by towns; insane paupers without a known residence were supported by the state; all others were supported by private means. Insane paupers could also be committed to state hospitals by the overseers of the poor with the consent of the trustees. Voluntary admissions were allowed under St 1881, c 272.

The board's powers and those of its successors expanded along with the state's increased responsibilities in the mental health area. By St 1900, c 451, s 1 (effective January 1, 1904), the State Board of Insanity assumed total responsibility for the care, control, and treatment of all indigent insane, which until that time had been shared by county, municipal, and state bodies. (Responsibility for the care of the insane in the city of Boston, however, remained under the control of the city until 1908.)

The board was reorganized by St 1914, c 762, which reduced its membership from five to three persons, who were for the first time full-time paid employees.

In 1922, the then Dept. of Mental Diseases was mandated to take cognizance of all matters affecting the mental health of the citizens of the Commonwealth, to make investigations and inquiries into the causes of mental diseases, mental retardation, and epilepsy, and to collect and disseminate the information. St 1922, c 519 also provided for the creation of a Division of Mental Hygiene within the department to carry out these functions.

St 1918, c 121 authorized the department to ascertain the mental condition of certain persons held for trial; St 1919, c 142, to provide temporary care to persons in war service with mental diseases. (Later, St 1954, c 598, s 1, authorized the Dept. of Mental Health to construct hospitals to care for aging persons; St 1969, c 889 established a departmental program of drug rehabilitation; and St 1962, c 698 established one for the training of residents in psychiatry.)

Resolves 1937, c 7 authorized a special commission to study all aspects of mental health care in the Commonwealth and to report to the General Court. The commission recommended a complete administrative overhaul of the Dept. of Mental Diseases; this was accomplished with passage of St 1938, c 486, which renamed the agency as the Dept. of Mental Health.

The Comprehensive Mental Health and Retardation Services Act of 1966 called for the department to establish a comprehensive community-based program of mental health and mental retardation services including state hospitals, state schools, clinics, comprehensive centers, and other facilities (St 1966, 736). This legislation mandated programmatic movement toward deinstitutionalization and the development of community mental health centers, following closely the federal Community Mental Health and Retardation Centers Act of 1963. The department was decentralized by dividing the Commonwealth into seven administrative regions each consisting of five to eight "catchment" or service areas with area directors and citizens advisory area boards. Emphasis was thus shifted away from the large state mental hospitals, some of which were closed.

In addition to area boards, a thirty-member State Advisory Council on Mental Health and Retardation (more commonly known as the Advisory Council on Mental Health and Mental Retardation) was established to advise the commissioner of mental health on policy, program development, and departmental priorities (St 1966, Ex Sess, c 735, s 16)

The Mental Health Reform Act of 1970 (St 1970, c 888) imposed limits on new admissions to state mental hospitals, encouraging the transition to a community-based system.

St 1986, c 599 (amending MGLA c 19) removed the responsibility for mental retardation from the Dept. of Mental Health and assigned it to a new Dept. of Mental Retardation (MGLA c 19B)

Currently the department carries out its functions at three levels: central office; regional offices; and area offices. The central office level focuses on hospital management, developing policy and regulatory standards, planning, prioritizing needs, and advocating for resources. The regional office level ensures that standardized services exist in all areas through planning, monitoring, licensing, and quality assurance activities. The area office level is the principal locus of service delivery.

NAME AUTHORITY NOTE. Series relating to the agencies described above can be found by searching the following access points for the time period stated: 1898-1916--Massachusetts. State Board of Insanity; 1916-1919--Massachusetts Commission on Mental Diseases; 1919-1938--Massachusetts. Dept. of Mental Diseases; 1938-present--Massachusetts. Dept. of Mental Health.

From the description of Agency history record. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 145429353