Thomas William Salmon

Thomas William Salmon, M.D. (1876–1927) was a leader of the mental hygiene movement in the United States in early twentieth century.

Formative years and early career

Salmon was born in Lansingburg (now Troy, New York), the son of a physician. and became New York State mental hospital bacteriologist.

Salmon joined the National Committee for Mental Hygiene. Beers served as Secretary and Salmon became the Director of Special Surveys and his first task was to obtain information about conditions in state mental hospitals. More than 60 surveys were carried out in state and county hospitals in 35 states and the information was reported to state legislatures, which led to reforms in many states. In 1915, Salmon was given the title of Medical Director of the National Committee for Mental Hygiene and he resigned from the Public Health Service.

Military service

In 1914, the U.S. Surgeon General established the position of Chief of Psychiatry under Dr. Pearce Bailey, an eminent neurologist. Salmon became interested in war psychiatry during World War I and in 1916, with Bailey visited the U.S. troops at the Mexican border and discovered that the rate of psychiatric disorders among soldiers was higher than among the civilian populations. The following year, Salmon went to England to study hospital care for soldiers suffering from “shell shock” which was then considered a war-related neurosis. His visit resulted in a detailed report titled The Care and Treatment of Mental Disorders and war neuroses (Shell Shock) in the British Army and included recommendations for a U.S. program in the event the country went to war. These recommendations included the screening of recruits before induction, the organizing of base hospitals and treatment centers, and the recruitment and training of physicians, nurses, reconstruction aides (occupational therapists) and social workers to care for the patients.

In March, 1918, Colonel Salmon was asked to form a psychiatric base hospital at Camp Crane in Pennsylvania as part of the Army's newly formed neuropsychiatric service. His hospital team was deployed to La Fauche, France in May, 1918, and at the time represented one of the first successful wartime deployments of reconstruction aides, later known as occupational therapists. Based on his successes in France, Salmon became an advocate for use of reconstruction aides in the treatment of soldiers suffering from functional war neuroses.

Post-war career When the war ended, Salmon became concerned with the plight of returning veterans who suffered from mental disorders. The veterans were first sent to state, county, and private mental hospitals, but their needs were greater than the hospitals could offer. Salmon pushed for the establishment of veteran hospitals around the country. Officials in Washington, DC were not favorable to the proposal but with the aid of the American Legion and other veteran groups, Congress eventually authorized the establishment of the Veterans Administration (VA). The first VA director was Dr. C.R. Forbes who soon ignored the psychiatrists’ recommendations regarding hospital care for veterans.

Beginning in 1920, Salmon worked with Pennsylvania's Commonwealth Fund to help create a juvenile delinquency research program and start clinics that offered services to children with emotional or behavioral problems. He was buried in Dorset, Vermont.

Works