Dr. Philip Levy is a psychologist who holds a PhD from New York University and a BA from Brooklyn College. He currently runs his own consulting firm and has established himself as a strong supporter of the deinstitutionalization movement. Throughout the 19th century, many state hospitals housed people with mental illness. New medications in the 1950s allowed many patients to live outside institutions, starting the trend of deinstitutionalization. Overcrowding and abuse in institutions continued this trend in the 20th century. President Kennedy furthered deinstitutionalization by passing the 1963 Community Mental Health Act, establishing outpatient facilities. Now there are fewer institutionalized psychiatric patients due to medication and outpatient therapy.

2.  Educated in New York City, Dr. Philip Levy holds
a doctor of philosophy in psychology from New
York University and a bachelor of arts in
psychology and philosophy from Brooklyn
College. An experienced mental health
professional, he presently serves as the
president and owner of the PHL HP Consulting
Group, the managing director of the C2C
network, and the chief strategic advisor of
Mind Over Mist. Over the course of his career,
Dr. Philip Levy has established himself as a
strong proponent of the deinstitutionalization
movement.

3.  Throughout 19th-century America, state
and local governments established a
significant number of hospitals to house and
care for individuals with mental disorders
and other forms of chronic illness. The
advent of new, groundbreaking medicines
in the mid-1950s made it possible for many
psychiatric patients to leave these hospitals
and lead relatively productive lives on the
outside. This trend eventually came to be
known as deinstitutionalization.

4.  The trend continued throughout the 20th
century as institutional overcrowding and
patient abuse began to present significant
problems to the health care industry. President
John F. Kennedy accelerated the
deinstitutionalization movement when he
signed into law the 1963 Community Mental
Health Centers Act, a provision that established
a nationwide network of community mental
health facilities. Thanks to modern medications
and the prevalence of outpatient
psychotherapy, there are currently far fewer
institutionalized psychiatric patients than ever
before.