Who Is Clifford Whittingham Beers Afflicted?

Clifford Whittingham Beers was born on March 30, 1876 to Ida Cooke Bears (mother) and Robert A. Beers. Clifford died on July 9, 1943. He was the second youngest of five children. Beers attended local public schools where he performed at the highest level. (Dain, 1980) During the early years Beers was faced with many different challenges. Most of those challenges, in which, young children should not have to go through. Beers came from a family in which sickness was very dominant and present from an early age. The Beers family was known to have some form of mental illness that was discovered at a very young age in their children and before them. Mental illness had occurred in the family before with Beers mother and an aunt. It started with
Clifford’s brother having, “night attacks”. The night attacks are known to use as epilepsy. (Dain, 1980, p.6). After experiencing all of the different episodes that his brother was having Beers became very scared about becoming ill.
He saw how his other brothers and sisters were and he did not want to become that way. This is when he started to suffer from depression. According to Norman Dain’s biography, Clifford W. Beers, Advocate for the Insane. And the idea that he might also be struck ill haunted him. Beers wrote: “…if a brother who had enjoyed perfect health all his life could be stricken with epilepsy, what was to prevent my being similarly afflicted? This was the thought that soon got possession of my mind. The more I considered it, the more nervous I became and the more nervous I became, the more convinced that my own breakdown was only a matter of time. Doomed to what I then considered a living death…” (Beers, 1908. 5) After this, Beers tried to commit suicide but he was not successful. This incident causes him to be placed in a Connecticut mental institution. (Dain, 1980) The experience in this mental institution was not a good one. During his time of hospitalization, Beers would imagine that he was held hostage in prison for murders that he did not commit. Clifford believed that the doctors and the attendants were trying to
put him behind bars longer for something that he did not do. He believed that his family were taken away and made as imposters that were played by the doctors and attendants. Going to the mental institutions became a routine for him. He would try different things that would make him act a certain way. Another time, in which, Beers acted out was when he tried to drown himself. This incident along with the others was not successful. He would be sent home and then later returned to the mental institutions. Beers spent his time in three Connecticut hospitals from the 1900s through most of 1903. While being hospitalized in the three different hospitals, each time it was for both a physical and emotional treatment for mental illness. Clifford’s experiences in the hospital became his book that he wrote: A Mind That Found Itself.
The policy was the Mental Health Policy. Beers was the founder of the Mental Health Association.
Clifford Beers’ mental health reforms made a huge impact on social welfare policies.
He made it possible for those that were in these mental institutions to be treated fairly. Many people may think that just because they are in a mental institution that they do not deserve to be treated fairly. Beers had a different perspective because he was once in their shows and he experienced everything for himself. Clifford became an advocate for the mental ill. He wanted to help individuals obtain their rights, services, benefits and opportunities that they need and those that they were entitled to. During this time, there were limited social programs. The funds for these programs were very low or not in
existence.
Clifford Beers served as a voice for the mental ill. Clifford became the founder of Mental Health America and a pioneer in advocating for improved treatment of mental illness. In his book, A Mind That Found Itself”,: “…I trust that it is not now too late, however, to protest in behalf of the thousands of outraged patients in private and state hospitals whose mute submission to such indignities has never been recorded.” (Beers, 1908. 19) He was not being selfless; he wanted others to know that he was going to be a voice for the others. He was able to gain the experience and actually know how it feels. Clifford Beers was one that helps to bring about the establishment of nongovernmental societies for mental hygiene in various states. The National Committee for Mental Hygiene pressured public authorities to improve mental hospitals and to develop programs to prevent illness. (Janson, 2012, p.166) These reforms still was not a success for some people because of the lack of funds. Beers led national and international efforts to improve institutional care challenge that stigma about mental illness and he wanted to promote mental health. He really was the voice for the mentally ill. (Parry, 2010) After his efforts started to become known, different attitudes started to change. The publishing of Beers book really started the movement for the mental health reform in the United States. He really acknowledged the seriousness of the conditions in which he faced during that time. Beers’ example helped to remove the stigma of mental illness among the general public. (Parry, 2010)
During this time, the mental ill have no kind of social justice. Beers wanted that to change. While being institutionalized Beers became more determined to start writing down all of the mistreatment and wrong doings that was being done in those institutions in which he was in. “A pen rather than a lance has been my weapon of offense and defense; with its point I should prick the civic conscience and bring into a neglected field men and women who should act as champions for those afflicted thousands least able to fight for themselves.” (Beers, 1907) Beers wanted to be the voice for the patients that no one would listen to, the invisible ones, shut away from polite society, because he used to be one of them. As Dain (1980) observed, Beers needed encouragement from important men, father figures. He sought it from, among others, Yale President Hadley, Joseph H. Choate, a philanthropist, lawyer and diplomat, then William James, the period’s preeminent psychologist, and Dr. Adolph Meyer, the internationally known psychiatrist and medical professor. After publishing his book, he wanted What the creation of a national and then international organization to: improve care and treatment of people in mental hospitals, work to correct the mis-impression that one cannot recover from mental illness, and help to prevent mental disability and the need for hospitalization. (Capps, 2009) Beers ideas, along with those that worked with him helped shape and improve the mental health system in America. They continue to inspire advocacy for greater humanity towards people with mental illnesses and to reach those who still do not get the services they need. Clifford Beers was a great builder of alliances as well as a visionary, a leader, a man of powerful moral determination, and a relentless fundraiser. He helped change society and was the voice that was needed for the mental health.