{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T06:04:41Z","timestamp":1789365881796,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"Cambridge University Press (CUP)","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789344000000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["cambridge.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Med. Hist."],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>The Mental Treatment Act 1930 amended the Lunacy Act 1890 for England and Wales. It sought to make access to treatment for mentally unwell people more accessible and less stigmatising. The 1930 Act introduced \u2018voluntary\u2019 patient status, permitting any adult to seek early treatment for their mental symptoms, rather than waiting until they were legally \u2018certifiable\u2019 as insane. The Act also created a new category of \u2018temporary\u2019 treatment without certification, which was conceptually challenging to understand and awkward to put into practice.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>This paper explores the implementation of the 1930 Act over its first five years. It draws on national and London County Council archival sources to gain insights at all levels of implementation.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>Implementation was a vast undertaking. Considerable cultural adaptation was necessary among those providing services in the community and in institutions. Culture shift was slow, as is common when new interventions are perceived to be more liberal and potentially riskier than tried and tested methods.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>In the context of the Great Depression, the Act faced competition with other societal and healthcare needs. These matters appeared as influential as whether the Act\u2019s directives were mandatory or optional. Lessons from this episode may help inform processes for implementing new mental healthcare legislation in the twenty-first century.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1017\/mdh.2026.10077","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T05:51:52Z","timestamp":1789365112000},"page":"1-20","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/policypage","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The Mental Treatment Act 1930: the first five years and the London County Council mental hospitals"],"prefix":"10.1017","author":[{"given":"Claire","family":"Hilton","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Royal College of Psychiatrists"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"56","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref10","volume-title":"Forgotten Lunatics of the Great War","author":"Barham","year":"2004"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref17","first-page":"312","article-title":"The Local Government Act, 1929, and Administrative Psychiatry","volume":"76","year":"1930","journal-title":"Journal of Mental Science"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1192\/bjp.84.348.183"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-44432-7"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref33","volume-title":"The Poor Law of Lunacy: The Administration of Pauper Lunatics in Mid-Nineteenth Century England","author":"Bartlett","year":"1999"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref14","volume-title":"The Experiences of an Asylum Doctor: With Suggestions for Asylum and Lunacy Law Reform","author":"Lomax","year":"1921"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/hwj\/13.1.110"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.30819\/4718"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref29","first-page":"27","volume-title":"Looking After Miss Alexander: Care, Mental Capacity, and the Court of Protection in Mid-Twentieth Century England","author":"Weston","year":"2023"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref32","first-page":"107","volume-title":"The Friern Hospital Story: The History of a Victorian Lunatic Asylum","author":"Berguer","year":"2012"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref1","first-page":"93","volume-title":"Mental Health and Social Policy 1845\u20131959","author":"Jones","year":"1960"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.14324\/111.9781800088610"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/shm\/14.3.439"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref23","first-page":"161","volume-title":"Treatment Without Consent, Law, Psychiatry and the Treatment of Mentally Disordered People Since 1845","author":"Fennell","year":"1996"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref4","first-page":"272","volume-title":"Managing Madness: Changing Ideas and Practice","author":"Busfield","year":"1986"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9780203015940-6"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref19","first-page":"41","volume-title":"Madness in Its Place: Narratives of Severalls Hospital, 1913\u20131997","author":"Gittins","year":"1998"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref27","first-page":"215","article-title":"Mosquitoes, Medical Officers and Mental Asylums: Malariotherapy in the UK and the Rise of the Horton Laboratory","volume":"5","author":"Ash","year":"2025","journal-title":"Topics in the History of Medicine"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/ije\/dyq094"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref28","first-page":"603","volume-title":"A Text-Book of Psychiatry for Students and Practitioners","author":"Henderson","year":"1941"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1192\/bjp.82.336.43"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0957154X211034981"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-56714-3"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1192\/bjp.77.316.22"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1192\/bjp.81.334.509"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-54871-1_3"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S0025727300001484"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1192\/bjp.79.324.102"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1179\/ldn.1993.18.2.129"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S002572730000942X"},{"key":"S0025727326100775_ref20","first-page":"137","volume-title":"Destigmatising Mental Illness? 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