A Mind That Found Itself: An Autobiography

by Clifford Whittingham Beers

Overview

In 1905, after suffering a relapse and spending a few months at The Hartford Retreat, Clifford Whittingham Beers elected to write a book about his experiences living with mental illness and being subject to cruel treatment and physical abuse while being institutionalized.

Titled, A Mind That Found Itself, the 1908 autobiography told the story of a young man who had suffered a life full of personal tragedy, leading to feelings of intense anxiety, paranoia and depression. Slowly being engulfed by intrusive thoughts and hallucinations, Beers found himself struggling with suicidal ideation and commitment by his well-intentioned family to a series of mental health institutions, each one seemingly worse than the last.

Unique in its presentation of both self-awareness and the difficult reality of working towards recovery; the book paved the way for the American mental hygiene movement and removed the stigma of mental illness among the general public.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781522930440
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	12/26/2015
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	7.99(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.27(d)

About the Author

Clifford Whittingham Beers (March 30, 1876 - July 9, 1943) was the founder of the American mental hygiene movement.
Beers was born in New Haven, Connecticut to Ida and Robert Beers on March 30, 1876. He was one of five children, all of whom would suffer from psychological distress and would die in mental institutions, including Beers himself (see "Clifford W. Beers, Advocate for the Insane"). He graduated from the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale in 1897, where he was business manager of The Yale Record and a member of Berzelius.
In 1900 he was first confined to a private mental institution for depression and paranoia. He would later be confined to another private hospital as well as a state institution. During these periods he experienced and witnessed serious maltreatment at the hands of the staff. His book A Mind That Found Itself (1908), an autobiographical account of his hospitalization and the abuses he suffered, was widely and favorably reviewed, became a bestseller, and is still in print.
Beers gained the support of the medical profession and others in the work to reform the treatment of the mentally ill. In 1909 Beers founded the "National Committee for Mental Hygiene", now named "Mental Health America", in order to continue the reform for the treatment of the mentally ill.

He also started the Clifford Beers Clinic in New Haven in 1913, the first outpatient mental health clinic in the United States.

Beers became Honorary President of the World Federation for Mental Health.

Beers was a leader in the field until his retirement in 1939. He died in Providence, Rhode Island on July 9, 1943.

Table of Contents

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