Fifty Years On: The Enduring Relevance of General Systems Theory to Community Psychiatry

An important but largely forgotten influence on the early development of community psychiatry is general systems theory, a framework that seeks to replace reductionistic, mechanistic models in science with a theory that better reflects the holistic and dynamic nature of open living systems. In his keynote address at the 1975 Institute on Hospital and Community Psychiatry, Judd Marmor, M.D., described the nexus between general systems theory and community psychiatry. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of that address, the author provides a brief historical overview of general systems theory and how it influenced the development of community psychiatry. The theory holds particular relevance in an era when the ecology of the public mental health system, which was already strained, is facing widespread threats from cuts to federal health insurance and social safety-net programs.