Mental Health and the Law: Partners in Advancing Human Rights

Abstract

It is a pleasure to contribute to this issue honoring Chief Judge David Bazelon. His broad and humanistic approach has helped to further understanding between lawN, and mental health, and reforms he has promoted benefit both fields. Both and mental health are rooted in individuals' struggle to live successfully together, to assist each other, to help with human suffering, and to absorb immense and complex variety of human behavior. Chief Judge Bazelon has observed that people tend to think of law as a fixed body of principles which judge finds; he stresses that they tend to overlook the kind of practical enterprise it really is. . .. At every turn it involves complex interactions of persons, institutions, diverse values, and more.1 The same is true of field of mental health. It too is a practical enterprise, full of complications, mirroring changing attitudes of community, reflecting both new knowledge and public's willingness to assume responsibilities. Each century has its major struggles, its historic problems. Our time has been tragically scarred by war, but has also been characterized by a continuous and valiant struggle to improve lot of sick, needy, disadvantaged, mentally ill, and mentally retarded. We have seen dawn of enlightenment and acceptance, of people admitting psychological