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History
Individuals with severe mental illness from across the USA and abroad have turned to The Menninger Clinic since 1925.
Founded in Topeka, Kansas, by Drs. C.F., Karl and Will Menninger, The Menninger Clinic represented the first group psychiatry practice. "We had a vision," Dr. C.F. said, "of a better kind of medicine and a better kind of world."
The three founders created a national psychiatric hospital with staff dedicated to helping people who were struggling with difficulties and disorders that interfered with quality daily living. They believed that persons with mental illness could be treated and helped at a time when custodial care or lifetime exile were the only alternatives.
The Clinic stood as a symbol of hope. The nervous and mental symptoms, emotional conflicts, the frustrations, and unhappiness complained of by the patients were given consideration equal to that given infections, tumors, and other physical ailments. Others around the world adopted and practiced many of Menninger’s innovations and approaches to the care of the mentally ill and to psychiatry.
Since that time, standing still has never been a trait among Menninger clinicians, researchers and educators.
Perhaps former Menninger Chief of Staff Richard Munich, MD, said it best when he suggested that while Menninger's 77-year legacy is marked with many accomplishments, its true potential remains ahead.
"I have long felt that once we have successfully passed the era of biological reductionism and extraordinary financial and regulatory constraints, The Menninger Clinic will be uniquely positioned to be at the forefront of a new alliance uniting brain, mind and social factors in the reduction of human suffering. It is very exciting to think that time is upon us."
"Our affiliation with Baylor College of Medicine and The Methodist Hospital ensures continuation of the Menninger mission to provide quality care, innovation through research, and training the mental health professionals of tomorrow," adds Ian Aitken, President and CEO.
Important dates and achievements
The following represents a portion of the organizational history.
1919
Dr. C.F. and Karl Menninger establish The Menninger Clinic for the practice of general medicine and psychiatry.
1925
Menninger offers psychiatric treatment as asylum alternative.
Arguably, the major contribution of Menninger may be that at a time when custodial care or the asylum were the only alternatives for the mentally ill, the Menningers brought a positive commitment to psychiatry when they opened the doors to their sanitarium in 1925 and admitted its first 13 patients. They did not believe that the fate of mentally ill people was to be warehoused; they believed mental illness could be treated. The Menningers brought hope for troubled persons everywhere. The Menninger Sanitarium is incorporated and the farm on Sixth Avenue is purchased as the site of the Sanitarium. Dr. Will joins his father and brother in their practice.
1926
School opens for children.
Shortly after opening the sanitarium, the Menningers established Southard School for emotionally disturbed children, following the advice of Karl Menninger's mentor, Boston Psychopathic Hospital's Dr. Elmer Ernest Southard, who told Dr. Karl "not to forget the children."
1930
Menninger book a popular hit and a first for its time.
Dr. Karl Menninger published The Human Mind, the first of 14 books he would write during the course of his life. While written for fellow mental health professionals, the book became a popular success. Dr. Karl's writing had a tremendous impact in communicating concepts to the lay public, as well as to professionals. The book went through three editions from 1930 to 1945. Dr. Karl's collective writings clearly and concisely introduced psychiatry and the intricacies of mental illness to an American public eager to learn more.
Writing became a tradition at Menninger. During 16 months ending June 2001, Menninger staff members published: nine books; 39 book chapters; 79 journal articles; 104 magazine articles; 61 reviews of books, videotapes, movies, and CD-ROMs; 24 technical reports; 45 Internet articles; and 107 miscellaneous publications, which included newspaper and magazine columns and letters, and newsletter articles.
1933
Menninger establishes unique curriculum.
The Menninger Sanitarium was approved to provide psychiatric residency training by the American Medical Association two years after it began training nurses. (Training in clinical psychology followed in 1940, social work in 1943, marital counseling in 1950, and pastoral care and counseling in 1951). Over the years, thousands of psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers have been trained at what was eventually called the Karl Menninger School of Psychiatry & Mental Health Sciences. Menninger-trained professionals practice in all 50 states and 24 foreign countries.
In addition to an emphasis on teaching psychiatric treatment, using the psychosocial model of mental illness, the major contribution of the school was a greater commitment to an academic and clinical curriculum, a team approach to diagnosis and treatment, and a model of diagnostic case study outline.
In 2002, Menninger will conduct its 55th formal graduation ceremony.
1934
Karl Menninger visits home of Freud, pledges to take in war émigrés.
With Jewish analysts in Germany banned during the Nazi era, many European psychoanalysts fled their countries for the U.S. Following Dr. Karl's trip to Vienna where he met Sigmund Freud, Menninger became one of several psychiatric centers in the U.S. to recruit émigré analysts. As these professionals and their families fled the cosmopolitan capitals of Europe and traveled to the capital of Kansas over the next 20 some years, they positively influenced the social, cultural and intellectual life at Menninger and in Topeka.
1935
Menninger receives national recognition.
Within 10 years of opening its doors, the Menninger Sanitarium was one of only five psychiatric institutions in the United States deemed worthy of praise by Fortune magazine as "the best west of the Alleghenies."
1936
Menninger publishes first issue of The Bulletin.
The Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, which was first published in September 1936, was edited and managed by Dr. Karl's wife, Jeanetta Lyle Menninger, who oversaw the magazine as editor for 35 years. The Bulletin began as a way to record the work of Menninger researchers and treaters. The first volume contained 34 pages and four articles, three concerning neurological conditions, four six-line book reviews, and summaries of four recent publications by members of The Menninger Clinic staff. Today, The Bulletin is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary quarterly journal, widely indexed and abstracted, publishing scholarly articles that address critical issues in contemporary clinical practice. Dr. Walt Menninger serves as the editor of The Bulletin.
1941
Non-profit Menninger Foundation established.
Following a commitment to be of greater service to the nation and the world, Drs. C.F., Karl, and Will Menninger gave all their individual assets to The Foundation. A Board of Trustees was formed. By 1946, all Menninger property and programs were consolidated under the umbrella of The Menninger Foundation.
1942
Center for training psychoanalysts opens; fourth in nation.
Topeka Institute for Psychoanalysis was established and responsible for all psychoanalytic training west of Chicago. A portion of Menninger's rise to national prominence can be attributed to fostering psychoanalytic education across the country. At the time, it was the only facility of its kind west of the Mississippi River. Since new institutes need to be sponsored by established institutes, it was the Topeka organization that spawned psychoanalytic training groups in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
1943
The Research Department is formed. Over the years, studies at Menninger involved perceptions and child development. An investigation was begun into the effects of psychotherapy, alcoholism and psychological testing, including an examination of how candidates are selected as residents for psychiatric training. Studies looked into the psychological processes of autokinesis, unconscious perception, dreaming, cognitive styles, aging and prison inmates. A group was also formed to support efforts into psychophysiological research.
1944
Menninger adopts Dr. Will's Army innovations.
After Dr. Will, then in charge of all Army psychiatry during World War II, coped with the rising need for therapists by moving psychologists from their traditional research or testing duties into active clinical treatment alongside psychiatrists, Dr. Karl emulated the unconventional reforms at The Menninger Clinic.
1945
Dr. Will contributes to establishing mental health's diagnostic guide.
Realizing that the many classification systems used to diagnose and treat psychiatric disorders required change, Dr. Will designed a unified system influenced by his military experiences as a Brigadier General in charge of the psychiatric treatment of the nation's Army. He broadened the psychiatric diagnostic system to include the treatment of neuropsychiatric casualties with brief psychotherapy. After the war and behind the scenes, Dr. Will had substantial influence over the development of a consistent and well-defined nomenclature for the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. A standard manual, since updated, was originally adopted as a classification guide in 1952, and provided uniform criteria from which to draw diagnostic conclusions based on behavior and symptoms. The manual is now in its fourth revision and is known as the DSM-IV.
1946
Menninger establishes the largest school for psychiatrists in the world.
The commitment at Menninger to training psychiatrists was first made in the mid-1930s. By the end of World War II, the subsequent discharge of millions of veterans fueled the need for psychiatric services and marked a turning point for Menninger. In 1946, Dr. Karl Menninger, working with Arthur Marshall, the envoy from the federal Veteran's Administration, established a model training program in Topeka, utilizing a former Army hospital as the flagship VA hospital for the Menninger School of Psychiatry. Drs. Karl and Will assembled a faculty and went to work. In those postwar times, 5 percent to 7 percent of all the psychiatrists in the U.S. and Canada were trained at Menninger. The first class numbered 108 physicians, and overnight the Menninger School of Psychiatry became the largest training center in the world.
1946
Menninger serves 'think tank' role for pioneering family therapy.
Based on theories he researched at Menninger, Dr. Murray Bowen, a Menninger psychiatrist from 1946-1954, developed a psychological approach to treatment called "Family Systems Theory." Dr. Bowen sought insights into the human condition by studying the family unit. His theories serve as the foundation for treatment approaches that are applied worldwide even today.
1946
Dr. Will is in the vanguard of founding national group.
Along with a small group of psychiatrists, Dr. Will founded the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry. This national organization emphasized reorienting psychiatry from focusing on psychotic patients in state hospitals to the treatment of individuals through dynamic psychiatric therapies that would address social problems and the people involved in them.
1948
Dr. Will becomes first psychiatrist on TIME cover.
Dr. Will was featured on the cover of Time magazine, a first for a psychiatrist. The magazine's editors referred to him as "psychiatry's U.S. sales manager" for his efforts to end the stigma against mental illness and for his unflagging efforts to promote prevention.
Dr. Will's contributions to Menninger were many, but perhaps none were as significant as his refinement of "milieu therapy," a system of hospital treatment in which a patient's whole environment is used for treatment, engaging everyone from psychiatrists and nurses to cooks and maintenance personnel in the therapeutic effort.
1948
Menninger applies principles to the state hospital system.
A dismal Kansas mental hospital system, ranked 48th in the U.S., was taken over by the Menningers at the request of Kansas officials. Within five years, wrote one observer, they "changed the halls of despair and hopelessness and snakepits into treatment centers where people knew they could get help and go home again."
1949
Helen Keller visited Topeka and Menninger.
1950
The Menninger School of Psychiatry begins training physicians at Topeka State Hospital.
1951
Hildegard Peplau, the most important figure in psychiatric nursing, visited Menninger. She taught nursing staff the concepts in her landmark book, Interpersonal Relations in Nursing, and applauded our quality of nursing and staff.
1952
Study examines how children cope.
Using data collected on 128 infants by psychologist Sibylle Escalona and her colleagues, Dr. Lois Murphy began a longitudinal study to discover, in her words, how "normal children remain normal," and how children cope with the stresses of growing up. The Coping Study was financed by the National Institute of Mental Health and others through 1969 and involved dozens of researchers whose observations appeared in numerous papers and books.
1953
'Miracle in Kansas' inspires legislative speeches.
Dr. Will Menninger was invited to address the legislatures or legislators assembled in 28 states about the turnaround--some called the "miracle in Kansas"--in treatment of the mentally ill in the state mental hospitals. He used the opportunities to plead with lawmakers to allocate more resources for improving the treatment of the mentally ill.
1953
Dr. C.F. Menninger dies.
1954
Dr. C.F. Menninger Memorial Hospital for adult patients is completed.
1954
Bringing religion and science together.
Dr. Karl Menninger's interest in the relationship between religion and psychiatry led to the first Gallahue Conference on Religion and Psychiatry, a gathering of noted psychiatrists and theologians who discussed issues common to both their interests. The conference led to establishing training programs at Menninger for scholars in theology and psychiatry and for clergy in pastoral care and counseling.
1954
Psychotherapy Research Project becomes a 30-year landmark study.
Menninger embarked on a scientific inquiry that would last nearly 30 years. The landmark study, called the Menninger Psychotherapy Research Project and initially funded by the Ford Foundation, continued until 1982. The effort remains the most extensive and detailed examination of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis that has ever been done. Using the case histories of 42 patients in treatment for significant mental disorders, Menninger investigators sought to uncover the roots of how psychoanalysis and psychotherapy work, what changes can predictably occur over the course of treatment, how those changes are brought about and how they evolve over time, in this case, many years later. In other words, they documented, as much as humanly possible, how serious mental illness is best treated. The research was critical for several reasons, most especially for its application to treatment.
The project's case histories and therapeutic insights were instructive not merely as abstract extrapolations, but as hard evidence of the efficacy of therapies in varying situations. And best of all, clinicians could apply the findings in practice. As a director of research at Menninger and the project's principal investigator, it fell to Dr. Robert Wallerstein, a former director of Menninger Research, to record the breadth of the study's findings in a thick volume titled, 42 Lives in Treatment-A Study of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. With at least 37 Menninger professionals involved over the life of the endeavor, nearly 70 articles, monographs and books were inspired by the project. The information continues to stimulate and provoke theory today. Over its long life, the project involved numerous Menninger notables, including Drs. Lewis Robbins, Helen D. Sargent, Gardner Murphy, Irwin Rosen, Stephen Appelbaum, Leonard Horwitz, Ishak Ramzy, Lolafaye Coyne, Otto Kernberg, Lester Luborsky and Mildred Faris, just to name a few.
1956
Menninger develops management, leadership innovations.
As a result of his experiences in dealing with the military during World War II, Dr. Will Menninger became especially aware of the important role that managers of people--whether they are generals or sergeants, vice presidents or foremen--has upon the mental health of people who work for them. Dr. Will and Dr. Harry Levinson conducted an extensive national survey of mental health problems in industry and what was then being done to solve or alleviate them. Subsequent studies were focused on the underlying causes of emotional stress on the job and what could be done to reduce it. As a result of the survey, Menninger began to offer week-long seminars for executives from all parts of the country in order to give these business leaders an understanding of why human beings act as they do. Efforts were focused on two areas: 1. the development of an educational technique to communicate an understanding of human behavior to persons with management responsibilities and 2. an organizational study of the effects of the work experience on mental health. The first seminars for executives and physicians were held in 1956 by what was called the Menninger Division of Industrial Mental Health. This was the first specialized function at a psychiatric institution and eventually provided evidence that psychiatry could be effectively applied in industry. The educational programs and individual consultations for executives for gaining insight into motivation and behavior in the workplace continue today in the Menninger Leadership Center. Dr. Levinson, who was trained at Menninger in the mid-1940s in clinical psychology, is regarded as the founder of psychoanalytic organizational psychology. He received a 2000 Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Application of Psychology from the American Psychological Foundation, which recognized him for his distinguished and enduring contributions in the application, practice and science of psychology and in promoting psychology in the public interest.
1957
Dr. Earl D. Bond became the first Alfred P. Sloan Visiting Professor for the Menninger School of Psychiatry. Dr. Bond, of Philadelphia, was recognized as the Dean of Psychiatry.
1959
Another famous visitor comes to Menninger.
Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt spent time with Dr. Karl during a 1959 trip to The Menninger Foundation. Over the years visitors to Menninger included such notables and celebrities as Anna Freud, Margaret Mead, Aldous Huxley, Helen Keller, Pearl Bailey, and Walter Cronkite. Years later, a second First Lady visited when Rosalynn Carter joined Menninger as a Trustee in 1986.
1961
A new Children's Hospital on Frazier is completed with a capacity of 60 children.
1962
The campus and facilities west of Cedar Crest are purchased from Security Benefit Association.
1963
New unit opens aimed at prevention.
Dr. Karl's concern with the destructive nature of man led to an interest in criminology and delinquency. The desire to apply psychiatric knowledge in the real world led to the establishment of the Department of Preventive Psychiatry, which zeroed in on the judicial system. Training was offered concerning how psychiatric knowledge could be applied to the handling of offenders, attorneys learned about the behavioral sciences and psychiatrists were educated in criminology and delinquency.
1965
First NIH grant for biofeedback research.
Elmer Green, PhD, researched and applied biofeedback techniques he developed in his ongoing study of "subtle energies," a field in which he remains preeminent. Dr. Green, the father of autogenic biofeedback training, was the first person ever to receive a National Institutes of Health research grant, which was given for his autonomic research program (involuntary internal stimuli) at Menninger in the mid-1960s. The techniques he and his wife Alyce Green developed were used to train individuals how to achieve more control over their bodies in order to increase their physical and mental well-being.
1966
Research impressed government agency.
Joseph Kovach, PhD, who arrived at Menninger in 1966, sought clues to human nature through his research into the brain activity and behavior of the Japanese quail. His efforts were designed to better understand how genes and environment affect behavior. His work was considered so noteworthy the National Institute of Mental Health selected him multiple times as the recipient of the coveted Career Scientist Award, a prize only a relatively few scientists ever received.
1966
Dr. Will Menninger dies.
1966
Anna Freud made her second visit, this time as a Sloan Visiting Professor in conjunction with the 20th anniversary of the Menninger School of Psychiatry.
1967
Dr. Roy Menninger is elected President and CEO.
1968
Menninger opens urban office for people living on limited income.
Responding to lessons learned from a five-year, federally funded study, Menninger establishes a community psychiatric service system that becomes a national model.
The Community Service Office was established in downtown Topeka following lessons learned from a five-year, community psychiatry study, which was then a part of the national Urban Renewal Project from 1962 to 1967. The national project examined the value of mental health services to people living on limited income who were forced to move because of urban renewal. Before closing in 2001, the Menninger-subsidized program served thousands of Topekans in need of mental health services. Workshops developed for divorcing families and stepfamilies became national models.
1973
Menninger undertakes largest migraine study.
A significant project was launched in 1973 when Menninger conducted the most extensive migraine study ever undertaken, research that attempted to determine the effectiveness of biofeedback techniques. Could a person mentally direct the energies in his own body? Were such techniques viable alternatives to conventional medicine? Dr. Joseph Sargent was in charge of overseeing the research, which used, among other things, an eight-channel polygraph to measure physical responses under laboratory conditions. In the initial study, which was later expanded, biofeedback significantly eased migraines in 74 percent of the test subjects. Over the next 25 years, Menninger participated in many FDA-approved clinical trials of migraine drug treatments.
1975
Menninger celebrates 50th anniversary, which includes a N.Y.-based national convocation, "Toward a Caring Society," exploring new attitudes in American Society.
1980
Trustees approve a $35 million "Brains and Bricks" building project; $22 million in contributions are raised with the remainder coming from the sale of bonds.
1981
Nation bestows prestigious medal on Dr. Karl.
Dr. Karl received numerous honors and awards from his professional peers, from government and from national groups. In 1981, he became the only psychiatrist ever to receive the Medal of Freedom--the highest civilian honor the country can bestow--from then-President Jimmy Carter.
1984
Magazines consistent in high praise for Menninger.
In ratings that endure today, national magazines have always given Menninger high marks. Good Housekeeping named Menninger the top psychiatric hospital in the nation in 1984. In 1988, Town & Country magazine wrote, "If there were a Guide Michelin for psychiatric Hospitals, The Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas, would rate three stars." And in what has become an annual survey of America's Best Hospitals, psychiatrists surveyed by U.S. News & World Report continue to choose Menninger as among the top psychiatric hospitals. Menninger has been named among the top four psychiatric hospitals in the nation in each of the U.S. News ratings for the 11 years the surveys have been conducted and was designated number one in the nation in 1995.
1990
Menninger participates in Clozaril trials.
Menninger conducted tests of Clozaril, a new drug which eventually received government approval, launching a new era in the drug treatment of patients with psychotic disorders.
Patients and treaters hailed the drug's effectiveness in reducing symptoms of schizophrenia without causing the same troubling side effects of existing drugs. Clozaril became the first of a new wave of effective anti-psychotic medication in 50 years.
1991
In what has become an annual survey of hospitals, U.S. News & World Report ranks Menninger among the top two psychiatric centers in the nation.
1993
Dr. Roy Menninger retires from 26 years as president and CEO. He led the organization through the expansion of the Child and Adolescent and Adult programs, the largest fundraising campaign in its history and the construction of a new campus.
Dr. Walt Menninger succeeds his brother, Dr Roy Menninger, as President and CEO.
Dr. Walt and Dr. Roy represent the third generation of one of America's leading medical families to lead the institution.
Dr. Roy Menninger becomes Chairman of Menninger Trustees.
1993
Menninger establishes Child & Family Center.
With a commitment to applied research and supported by a dedicated endowment of $15 million assembled from private sources, the Menninger Child & Family Center was established to pursue results that can be translated into practical programs that meet the needs of children and families in modern times. Heading the Center is Peter Fonagy, PhD, a world-renowned clinician and researcher who was named a Fellow of the prestigious British Academy in 1997. Dr. Fonagy places a priority on prevention. For instance, the Peaceful Schools Program was designed as an anti-violence intervention that targets bullying behavior. It has involved 3,000 students and 11 Topeka USD 501 elementary schools over three years, and is believed to be the most ambitious, privately-funded study of its kind. The study shows that when students learn alternatives to aggression, all students in the school do better socially and academically, not just bullied or victimized students. Menninger is developing a training package for schools to use to implement the program. In other studies, Child & Family Center researchers continue examining people who attended the Menninger Preschool treatment program as early as the 1970s for insights into depression by comparing their early psychological histories with their present mental health. The project involves DNA analysis to locate factors common in adults who suffer posttraumatic stress disorder. Other ongoing studies range from how best to improve infant feeding to a study designed to get to the roots of violent adolescent behavior. Such studies can take many years.
1995
Psychiatrists nationwide ranked Menninger the No. 1 psychiatric hospital in the nation in a survey by U.S. News & World Report.
1996
Menninger Treatment Interventions Project gains insight.
In an effort to determine useful treatment approaches, Menninger clinicians recorded all psychotherapy sessions involving three patients who suffered from borderline personality disorder. The project resulted in producing insights concerning the most effective approach with a particular patient at a given time in the therapy process.
2000
Menninger celebrates its 75th anniversary.
2001
John McKelvey succeeds Dr. Walt Menninger as CEO.
Dr. Walt Menninger becomes Chairman of Menninger Trustees.
2002
Menninger partners with Baylor College of Medicine and The Methodist Hospital.
This affiliation will enhance Menninger's capabilities as a center of excellence in psychiatry and the behavioral sciences by combining Menninger's clinical program with Baylor's College of Medicine and The Methodist Hospital's educational and research environment.
2003
The Clinic moves to Houston, Texas.
Patients were transferred from Topeka, Kansas to Houston, Texas on a chartered flight on May 31.
Menninger opened its doors in Houston in June, 2003, with 28 patients making the trip from Kansas to continue their treatment in Houston. In the first eight days of operation, 33 additional patients were admitted, more than doubling patient census.
Clinical training programs have resumed.
Students from The Menninger Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine now complete their advanced residency at The Menninger Clinic. These trainees maintain rigorous schedules, including both coursework and patient care under the supervision of internationally renowned clinicians.
2004
Menninger celebrates its first year anniversary in Houston, Texas.
Menninger welcomed 779 new patients in its first year in Houston.
... more about early history
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