Department of Mental Health

The South Carolina State Hospital, first named the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum, was completed in 1828 in Columbia as one of the first asylums in the county built expressly for the mentally ill and funded by the state government. In 1964, the Department of Mental Health was created as an independent agency of state government to develop a more comprehensive system, which combined medical care and treatment with expanded community services, mental health education, consultation, professional training, and research.

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