Am J Psychiatry 1981; 138:1147-1153
Copyright © 1981 by American Psychiatric Association
Leadership in mental health: changing the guard for the 1980s
S Feldman
The author reviews the leadership changes that have taken place in mental
health organizations and the factors that have influenced these changes as
the mental health field has developed. The administrators of the early
mental hospitals were physicians and laymen. By the mid 1840s, the
physician-administrator had become dominant, but this changed with the
social values of the 1960s and the growth of community mental health
centers. Most recent has been the movement into leadership positions by
professional administrators without clinical training. The author suggests
that the mental health leaders of the 1980s must understand that
administration is substantially modified by the subject matter and the
values of the mental health field. He feels that the administrator must
never lose touch with the experience of being a patient.
