The Psychiatric Service at Birmingham University

Abstract

In recent years the mental health of British university undergraduates has aroused considerable interest. The findings of Parnell (1951) at Oxford, Davy (1957 and 1960) at Cambridge, Malleson (1958) at University College, London, and Juel-Jensen (1962) at Oxford indicate that up to 20 per cent. of students suffer psychiatric disturbances of sufficient degree to constitute a handicap in their daily life. Furthermore, mental ill-health is one of the most important reasons why undergraduates lose time from their studies or withdraw from university altogether. Read (1954) stressed the advantages of the psychiatric service for students at the London School for Economics.