Ambiguities in a Secondary School Mental Health Project
EMILY MUMFORD PH.D.1,
BENJAMIN H. BALSER M.D.2, , and
MALCOLM RUCKER 3
1 Associate professor of psychiatry (sociology), Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, City University of New York, Fifth Ave. and 100th St., New York, N. Y. 10029, sociology consultant to the project, department of psychiatry, St. Luke's Hospital Center
2 Project director, department of psychiatry, St. Luke's Hospital Center
3 Research assistant, department of psychiatry, St. Luke's Hospital Center
Four years of psychiatric services provided to seven secondary schools have produced qualitative changes in the schools and increased teacher acceptance of psychiatric consultation about students. More students were seen each year. Teachers and administrators in some schools have indicated enthusiasm and have cited examples of students who have been helped by their psychiatrists. An unanticipated finding is that the highest attrition occurred among the "experimental" students—those whom the project singled out for special attention and help.
