The past twenty-five years have seen rapid change in the manner in which the needs of those suffering from mental illness have been met, in the laws relating to their admission to psychiatric hospitals, and in the treatments administered.

The mid 1950s had been a period of high optimism generated by the introduction of effective new drugs for the treatment of the most serious forms of mental disorder, both in their acute phases and as part of prophylactic management aimed at reducing the chances of relapse. An atmosphere of positive endeavour and high aspiration permeated a large number of mental hospitals and led to the introduction of active programmes of social rehabilitation and resettlement for patients who had, in the past, been all too liable to become residents of such hospitals for years or for life. There was a burgeoning of scientific investigation into the causes and treatment of mental disorder. A group of British mental hospitals had played a pioneering role in these developments and the programmes of management, organization and rehabilitation they employed were emulated in many parts of the world. This movement found expression in the Mental Health Act of 1959 which implemented the main recommendations of the Percy Commission. For ten to fifteen years the Act was regarded as the most humane and imaginative piece of legislation enacted this century in relation to the mentally ill anywhere in the world.