Since the mid 1970s, California policy makers have attempted to address the ever-growing problem of homelessness and incarceration of individuals with serious mental illness. Despite numerous policy efforts, the numbers of homeless and incarcerated Californians with serious mental illness have reached unprecedented numbers. My talk will address the social, economic, political and ideologic forces that have shaped mental health policy over the last fifty years. I argue that this historically informed perspective is crucial to understanding why we have so consistently failed to solve the fundamental problems of caring for our most vulnerable citizens.

Dr. Joel Braslow, MD, PhD is a Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and the Department of History at UCLA. Dr. Braslow’s research examines the social, cultural, historical, and scientific context of treatment practices for severe mental illness, ranging from early twentieth-century American psychiatric practices to contemporary issues around mental health policy. Professor Braslow’s book Mental Ills and Bodily Cures: Psychiatric Treatment in the First Half of Twentieth Century reconstructs the world of mental patients and their doctors in the first half of the twentieth century. To understand why the mental health care system underserves the most vulnerable patients, Dr. Braslow is working on a history of schizophrenia from its origins to the present. At the same time, Dr. Braslow is examining the intersection between mental health policy, incarceration, and homelessness in a comparative study of New York and Los Angeles. Professor Braslow received his Bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, his M.D. degree from Loma Linda University School of Medicine, and Ph.D. in History from UCLA.

*This talk will be given as a webinar as well as a limited in-person option.  The link will be provided on Tuesday, January 10th to those that have registered by 5:00pm on Monday, January 9th.*

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