The history, economics, and financing of mental health care. Part 1: 17th to 19th centuries.

Families in colonial times cared for their mentally ill members at home, with little assistance from their communities. Community treatment is an old idea, not a new one. Early laws about containing the disturbances created by individuals with mental illness made no mention of clinical dimensions. The focus was strictly on the social and economic consequences of the mental disorders. Legislation about public mental hospitals in the mid-19th century was hardly enlightened. There were no particular plans, other than not to expend more dollars than actually necessary.