Community Psychology

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Community Psychology
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• Not all psychologists believe that therapy
  (whatever the form) is the best intervention for
  psychological problems.
• One alternative Community Psychology

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• Community Psychology is the application of
  psychological principles to
• A. The understanding of individual and social
  problems
• B. The prevention of psychological dysfunction
• C. The creation of lasting social change

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• Various community psychologists emphasize
  different characteristics in their definition of
  the field. However
• Common premise human behavior develops out of
  interactions between people and all aspects of
  their environment physical, social, political
  and economic
• Thus efforts to alleviate individual and social
  problems must entail changes in both
  environmental settings and individual competencies

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• Rappaport (1977) referred to this emphasis on
  person-environmental interactions as the
  ecological perspective
• an orientation emphasizing relationships among
  persons and their social and physical environment
  (and implying) that there are neither inadequate
  persons nor inadequate environments, but rather
  the fit between persons and environments may be
  in relative accord or discord.

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History of Community Psychology

• 1. The advent of Clinical Psychology
• 2. Mental Hygiene Movement
• Clifford Beers
• National Committee for Mental Hygiene
• Preferred to promote health rather than combat
  illness efforts to inoculate people against
  mental illness
• 3. Child Guidance Movement 1920s
• 4. The world wars

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History of Community Psychology

• More recently
• 1950s and 1960s accelerated development
  formal birth of the field in the mid-1960s
• Two sets of developments were crucial, one in
  psychology, and one outside

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Within Psychology

• 1. Disenchantment with a clinical psychology
  that was dominated by intrapsychic models of
  psychopathology
• 2. Skepticism about the effects of
  psychotherapy (e.g., Eysenck), along with the
  reliability and validity of diagnoses
• 3. Prophesies of personnel shortages, given the
  prevalent 1 1 style of delivery of mental
  health services
• 4. Dissatisfaction with the training models and
  role expectations for clinical psychologists

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Outside of Psychology

• Social and political activism of the 60s
• 2. Legislative Changes
• Mental Health Study Act of 1955
• Community Mental Health Centers Act (1963)

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Comprehensive Care

• Intended to include 10 types of services
• Essential (required for centers seeking federal
  funding)
• 1. inpatient care
• 2. outpatient treatment for children and
  adolescents
• 3. 24-hour emergency services
• 4. consultation services
• 5. educational services

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• Desirable Services important, but not required
  for funding
• 1. diagnostic services
• 2. social and vocational rehabilitation
• 3. precare and aftercare services
• 4. training of mental health personnel
• 5. research and evaluation of program
  effectiveness
• 1965 funding for the Community MH Centers Act
  approved, with the expectation that funding would
  be shifted to the states, with additional funding
  provided by health insurers, fees, etc.