Transitions in the Mental Health Field's System of Professions from WWII until the Present: The Case of Dubville

A case study of one mental health field in a medium-sized, steel-belt city over a 50 year period is presented. Through interviews and archive data, the narrative elucidates the transitions that occurred in regards to which professions are dominant, and which services count as mental health services, in different eras and under different science and governmental regimes. The dissertation focuses on four professional categories in particular: psychoanalytic psychiatrists, neurological psychiatrists, research psychologists, and clinical psychologists. It also focuses, primarily, on three institutions: a large psychiatric research hospital, a university psychology department, and a psychoanalytic institute. Through tracing the dynamics of the professional transitions undergone by these professions and institutions, four major conclusions are reached: (1) The transitions in mental health were not just scientific advancements, but changes in the "object" over which mental health professionals are considered to have expertise. (2) Sidestepping the "total person" has resulted in a radical transition in the very hierarchy of the mental health system of professions. (3) The problem of the "total person" continues to complicate efforts in mental health, despite having ostensibly been "sidestepped." (4) "Totality" has become an area of technocratic expertise for those working in private practice psychotherapy. However, totality is no longer exclusively conceptualized through a psychoanalytic lens, while the ground to make a claim on "totality" is still grounded in "clinical experience."

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Immediate Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Clinical Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2009

Author dc:creator

• Warner, Daniel Noam

Contributors dc:contributor

• Daniel Burston
• Roger Brooke
• Constance Fischer

• History of Professions
• Mental Health History
• History of Psychoanalysis
• Mental Health Administration
• History and Philosophy of Science
• History of Psychology

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1341

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dsc.duq.edu:etd-2357