Beers, << beerz, >> Clifford Whittingham (1876-1943), founded the mental hygiene movement in the United States. He was greatly responsible for changing the care of people with mental illness throughout the world. His brother died of epilepsy in 1900, and Beers himself developed a severe mental illness. He was hospitalized in two private sanatoriums and then in a state hospital. After two years of depression, he became rational and decided to reform the care of the mentally ill. He managed to have himself transferred to a ward for violent patients. While in this ward, Beers received brutal treatment.
After his release, Beers wrote his story, A Mind That Found Itself (1908). The book described his experiences in the asylums and caused enormous interest. Beers helped found the National Committee for Mental Hygiene in 1909, and the American Foundation for Mental Hygiene, to finance study and research, in 1928. The first International Congress on Mental Hygiene met in 1930 under his leadership.
Beers was born on March 30, 1876, in New Haven, Connecticut, and graduated from Yale University. He died on July 9, 1943.
