Mental Health Act 1959

The main provisions of the 1959 Mental Health Act were to abolish the distinction between psychiatric hospitals and other types of hospitals and to de-instituitionalise mental health patients and see them treated more by community care. The act also defined the term mental disorder for the first time - "mental illness as distinct from learning disability. The definition was “mental illness; arrest or incomplete development of mind; psychopathic disorder; and any other disorder or disability of mind”.

Mental Health Act 1959

The main provisions of the 1959 Mental Health Act were to abolish the distinction between psychiatric hospitals and other types of hospitals and to de-instituitionalise mental health patients and see them treated more by community care. The act also defined the term mental disorder for the first time - "mental illness as distinct from learning disability. The definition was “mental illness; arrest or incomplete development of mind; psychopathic disorder; and any other disorder or disability of mind”.