Improving the mental health of black Americans: lessons from the community mental health movement.

The ideology of the community mental health movement in the 1960s--that psychological distress among black Americans could be prevented if policies moved away from clinical models to a focus on social-structural change--still has much to offer. Agendas for both epidemiologic and intervention research will have to address the antecedents of psychopathology and assess the strategies of adjustment to social mobility and expectancy problems. Long-term preventive programs aimed at preschool and elementary school and at job training offer the greatest promise.