The Release Bandwagon

Editor's Note: The essay below, published in the Dr. Whatsisname column in the June 1959 issue of Mental Hospitals, takes a wry look at the wholesale discharge of patients from mental hospitals following the introduction of the new drugs. (See "The New Drugs (Chlorpromazine & Reserpine): Administrative Aspects" on page 327 and Dr. Robert Cancro's commentary and analysis on page 333.) The Dr. Whatsisname column appeared regularly in the journal for almost 14 years before it was discontinued in 1970 and the identity of its author formally revealed: Henry A. Davidson, M.D., a hospital administrator in New Jersey. Washington artist Ralph Robinson drew the cartoons.