Donald Hastings

Dr. Donald W. Hastings wrote the following description of the department of Department of Psychiatry and Neurology. The Department is composed of four major divisions:  adult psychiatry, child psychiatry, neurology and clinical psychology.  Each of the divisions, with the exception of clinical psychology, carries direct patient responsibility on its hospital and out-patient services.  Clinical psychology occupies a consultant role in patient care. The experiences during World War II brought home to the nation the importance of the mental health of its citizens. The numbers of men who were rejected for psychiatric reasons, or later discharged from active duty for psychiatric disability, were appalling. One of the effects of this phenomenon was to see the medical schools of the country place an added importance on their departments of psychiatry, with particular reference to the training of the medical student. This development occurred at Minnesota at the close of the war.  My (Hastings) arrival at the University of Minnesota, March 1, 1946, coincided with the developments mentioned above. By coincidence, March 1, 1946, also saw the start of a two-week pilot course, "Teaching Psychotherapeutic Medicine to the General Physician." This postgraduate session, attended by 25 Minnesota general physicians and subsidized by the Commonwealth Fund, established a pattern for similar courses soon to be conducted by most major teaching centers over the country. It was symbolic of the recognition of the importance of the general physician as the first line of defense within his own community in dealing with emotional problems.  As of March 1, 1946, the full-time departmental faculty was small.  Dr. A. B. Baker, primarily a neurologist, Dr. B. C. Schiele, primarily a psychiatrist, and Dr. S. R. Hathaway, clinical psychologist were the three senior faculty members in addition to the new chairman.  There were three residents. The department in 1946 was termed the "Department of Neuropsychiatry." Because the two specialties were by now quite separate in their clinical methods and techniques, plans were made for two separate divisions, i.e., the Division of Psychiatry and the Division of Neurology, the latter headed by Dr. Baker. This change was effected in the summer of 1946, a change also in keeping with the national pattern that was evolving. Neurology and Psychiatry became separate departments within the Medical School in 1968-1969.

Laboratory space was at a premium and no significant expansion of research other than that of a strictly clinical nature done on the wards or in the Record Room were possible without new construction. In spite of these handicaps, some investigation was carried on. In 1954 the Division of Neurology obtained a small amount of space for research and for the Neuropathology Laboratory when the Department of Otolaryngology abandoned its operating room and suites on the fifth floor adjacent to the neurological clinical service (their new operating suites had become available with the opening of the Mayo Memorial Building). Part of this space was devoted to EMG and EEG evoked responses. In 1967 4 copper shielded rooms were installed for the new EMG laboratory (Dr. W. Kennedy) and evoked response studies (Dr. Fernando Torres). In 1957, the state legislature, by means of a special budget.

A continuation of the History of Psychiatry is available in Dr. Myers book.