APA Historical Database: Selected Entries

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On December 6:

1866 — The first state mental hospital in Minnesota, St. Peter State Hospital, opened for patients. The hospital was founded by the legislature on March 2, 1866 and opened in a temporary building in St. Peter until a permanent hospital was built on the outskirts of the town. Before this time, patients under Minnesota state care were treated in hospitals in Iowa and Missouri. The facility is now named St. Peter Regional Treatment Center.

1916 — The New York Psychiatric Society appointed a committee on the activities of psychologists. The committee's later report urged disapproval of psychologists judging "the mental condition of sick, defective, or otherwise abnormal persons" and disapproval of "the application of psychology to responsible clinical work except . . . under the direct supervision of physicians."

1933 — Logan Wright was born. Wright is a clinical psychologist with a long record of advocacy for improvements in professional standards of education in psychology and legislation affecting professional psychology. APA President, 1986.

1946 — The Oklahoma Psychological Association was founded. John Rohrer was the acting president at the founding meeting.

1954 — The drug Amytal (amobarbital sodium; Lilly) was approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Amobarbital is a barbiturate and is used as an antianxiety agent and as a sedative. Amytal is a trade name frequently prescribed, but amobarbital sodium was first approved by the FDA on April 18, 1939, when it was marketed by Parke-Davis as Thioethamyl.

1962 — The first Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., Foundation Awards for work in mental retardation were announced. Winners were the National Association for Retarded Children, Samuel Kirk, Ivar Folling, Murray Barr, Joe Hin Tijo, and Jerome Lejeune.

1966 — Lafayette R. (L. Ron) Hubbard patented a "device for measuring and indicating changes in resistance of a living body" that is used supposedly to measure personal psychological adjustment in Hubbard's pseudotherapeutic system called dianetics.

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