Clifford Whittingham Beers

Clifford Whittingham Beers (March 30, 1876 – July 9, 1943) was an American author and psychiatric patient, best known as the founder of the American mental hygiene movement.

Biography Beers was born in New Haven on March 30, 1876. He was one of five children, all of whom suffered from psychological distress and spent time in mental institutions, including Beers himself. He graduated from the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale in 1897,

In 1900 he was first confined to a private mental institution for depression and paranoia. He would later be confined to another private hospital as well as a state institution. During these periods he experienced and witnessed serious maltreatment at the hands of the staff. His book A Mind That Found Itself (1908), an autobiographical account of his hospitalization and the abuses he suffered, was widely and favorably reviewed, became a bestseller, and is still in print. On June 26, 1912, Beers married his childhood friend and confidant Clara Jepson. The couple had no children.

He also started the Clifford Beers Clinic in New Haven in 1913, the first outpatient mental health clinic in the United States.

Beers became Honorary President of the World Federation for Mental Health.

Beers was a leader in the field until his retirement in 1939. He died at Butler Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, on July 9, 1943.

The Extra Mile in Washington, D.C., selected Beers as one of its 37 honorees. The Extra Mile pays homage to Americans like Beers who set their own self-interest aside to help others and successfully brought positive social change to the United States.