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=**Mental Health in the 1930s and Early 1940s** =

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(//YouTube - The Sick & The Insane//)

In the 1930s and 1940s, America was in great turmoil; the Great Depression was causing devastating affects to individual families and the country as a whole. The country was struggling to maintain its isolationist position in response to World War II. Correlating directly to these catastrophic events, mental illnesses were becoming all the more prevalent in society. America's discrimnatory views of those who were afflicted with mental disorders finally began to come into question. The early twentieth century marked the Progressive Era - one in which great gains were made in many social and political areas. The mental health industry especially benefited from improvements. The Mental Hygiene Movement began (Overview of Mental Health in New York and the Nation), and attention was focused on the prevention and curing of mental illnesses. To accomplish these universal goals, an abundance of outpatient clinics and psychiatric hospitals were developed. The evolution of the importance of mental wellness in society can be viewed in three categories: diagnosis, treatment, and public opinion. As more concrete evidence about the brain and mental illness was discovered and stereotypes and prejudices were lifted, these three aspects of mental health certainly changed also.