Steven J. Taylor’s World War II, Mental Institutions, and Religious Objectors (Syracuse University Press) examines the intersection of conscientious objection and mental health care reform. Taylor, Professor of Cultural Foundations of Education at Syracuse University and co-director of the Center on Human Policy, Law and Disability Studies, explores how Conscientious Objectors during WWII impacted mental health care through their work in institution back wards.
The National Mental Health Foundation (NMHF), founded by four Conscientious Objectors with no mental health expertise, worked to expose institutional conditions, improve attendant training, and reform commitment laws. Though eventually merged into professional organizations that took different approaches, the NMHF’s early work highlighted systemic issues in mental health care.
The book connects to broader themes of deinstitutionalization in the 1960s and its ultimate failure, as federal funds were diverted to the Vietnam War and states failed to adequately support community mental health programs. This resulted in a shift of mental health patients to shelters, streets, and jails – creating new forms of institutionalization.
Taylor’s work celebrates the noble efforts of Conscientious Objectors who fought against domestic injustice while their countrymen focused on external enemies, preserving a flawed system in the process.