Thomas William Salmon

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Thomas William Salmon
Born6 January 1876 Edit this on Wikidata
Lansingburgh Edit this on Wikidata
Died13 August 1927 Edit this on Wikidata (aged 51)
Position heldPresident of the American Psychiatric Association (1923–1924) Edit this on Wikidata

Thomas William Salmon, M.D. (1876-1927) was a leader of the

mental hygiene movement in the United States in early twentieth century.[1]

Formative years and early career

Salmon was born in Lansingburg (now Troy, New York), the son of a physician.

Willard State Hospital to investigate a diphtheria epidemic, which he helped end successfully,[citation needed] and became New York State mental hospital bacteriologist.[1] The two years he spent at Willard gave him entry into the world of psychiatry
.

Salmon entered the

U.S. Congressional committees
. His efforts in bypassing his superiors were not met kindly. However, five years later, Congress authorized a hospital ship.

In 1911, the

New York State Commission in Lunacy
asked the Public Health Service to grant Salmon a leave of absence from the Public Health Service to study the problems of foreign-born patients in state mental hospitals. Salmon organized statistical surveys and helped to devise a uniform system of reporting admissions and discharges.

Mental hygiene movement

During the years of Salmon’s work in the Public Health Service, a new movement was under way.

Clifford Beers, a Yale graduate living in Connecticut became mentally ill. He was confined for three years in private and public mental hospitals where he received harsh treatment. Upon his recovery, he was determined to bring better care to mental patients. He wrote and published a book in 1909 titled A Mind that Found Itself which received favorable comments from lay and professional groups. With their help, Beers organized the Connecticut Association for Mental Hygiene and the following year he led the formation of the National Committee for Mental Hygiene
. The aims of the organization were to raise standards of care for the mentally ill, to study and disseminate information about the illness, to seek methods of prevention, and to foster the organization of a mental hygiene society in each state. Funds for the new organization came from private philanthropists and foundations.

Salmon joined the National Committee for Mental Hygiene. Beers served as Secretary and Salmon became the Director of Special Surveys and his first task was to obtain information about conditions in state mental hospitals. More than 60 surveys were carried out in state and county hospitals in 35 states and the information was reported to state legislatures, which led to reforms in many states. In 1915, Salmon was given the title of Medical Director of the National Committee for Mental Hygiene and he resigned from the Public Health Service.

Military service

In 1914, the

social workers
to care for the patients.

In March, 1918, Colonel Salmon was asked to form a psychiatric base hospital at Camp Crane in Pennsylvania as part of the Army's newly formed neuropsychiatric service. His hospital team was deployed to La Fauche, France in May, 1918, and at the time represented one of the first successful wartime deployments of reconstruction aides, later known as occupational therapists. Based on his successes in France, Salmon became an advocate for use of reconstruction aides in the treatment of soldiers suffering from functional war neuroses.[3]

Post-war career

When the war ended, Salmon became concerned with the plight of returning

Veterans Administration (VA). The first VA director was Dr. C.R. Forbes
who soon ignored the psychiatrists’ recommendations regarding hospital care for veterans.

Beginning in 1920, Salmon worked with Pennsylvania's Commonwealth Fund to help create a juvenile delinquency research program and start clinics that offered services to children with emotional or behavioral problems.[1] Salmon left the National Committee for Mental Hygiene in January 1922 and ended his work for the Commonwealth Fund later that year.[1] He later accepted a professorship of psychiatry at the Columbia University in New York City.[citation needed] Salmon was elected as president of the American Psychiatric Association in 1923;[1] he was the first president who had not been employed as a mental hospital superintendent.[citation needed]

On August 13, 1927, Salmon died in the Long Island Sound while sailing.[1][4] He was buried in Dorset, Vermont.[citation needed]

Works

References

  1. ^
    PMID 17008565
    .
  2. ^ Salmon, T.W. (1917). "Care and treatment of mental diseases and war neuroses ('shell shock') in the British Army". Mental Hygiene. 1 (4): 509–547.
  3. ^ Schwab, S.I. (1919). "The experiment in occupational therapy at Base Hospital 117, A.E.F.". Mental Hygiene. 3: 580–593.
  4. ^ "Finding aid to the Thomas W. Salmon papers" (PDF). Weill Cornell Medical College. Retrieved 21 February 2017.

Further reading

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