The Mennonite Mental Health Movement

Abstract

Historians typically describe the 3000 World War II conscientious objectors who served in American psychiatric hospitals and training schools in the Civilian Public Service (CPS) as "people of conscience." This phrase captures the diverse motivations of the conscientious objectors but neglects the differences among these motivations. Members of several communities served in the CPS, but half of all volunteers in mental health facilities were Mennonites. After the war, only Mennonite CPS veterans engaged their own community in a discussion about their responsibilities to people with mental illness, which led directly to the foundation of eight mental health facilities, seven of which continue to serve people with mental illness. In this review of materials published by Mennonites, we explore the difference that Mennonite religious ideology, especially the ideas of discipleship and nonresistance, made in their response to people with mental illness. Understanding these differences is critical for any attempts to replicate their success in engendering community care, in which direct conversation and encounter are critical.