Trends in Mental Health Care in Czechoslovakia

Abstract

If we wish to examine the development of care of the mentally ill during the last 30-40 years in Czechoslovakia, we must, for the sake of the reader who is unfamiliar with the history of our country, draw attention to the most important events that have influenced that care. The following brief glance at the past will permit us to better understand not only the present and the successes we have achieved in coping with mental illness but also the problems that have appeared over time and that we have to solve. We shall divide the past into a series of stages according to sociohistorical events that, to a certain extent, have influenced mental health care and ensured services for the mentally ill. At each stage we shall describe the provision of pharmaceutical and technical treatment, the types of institutions and number of doctors involved, and the main trends in mental health care. We shall then examine the last 30-40 years in detail. The period from 1939 to 1945 will be omitted since everyone is familiar with the attitude of the German fascists toward the mentally ill, an attitude that culminated in a euthanasia program.