Oral history interview with Mitchell S. Rosenthal, 1981

Biographical Note

Mitchell Rosenthal was born in New York City on June 12, 1935. He earned an undergraduate degree from Lafayette College and a medical doctorate from SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. After residency, he became director of the Staten Island Mental Health Society. From 1965 to 1967, Rosenthal served in the Navy as lieutenant commander and staff psychiatrist at the Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland, California where he revolutionized hospital procedure after being inspired by the Synanon treatment model. After leaving the Navy, he served as deputy commissioner of New York City's Addiction Services Agency. In 1967, he founded Phoenix House, which grew to be the largest residential drug rehabilitation program in the United States within three years. Mitchell S. Rosenthal was interviewed for the project that led to the book Addicts Who Survived

Scope and Contents

In this interview, Mitchell Rosenthal discusses his life and career, primarily his founding of a residential drug rehabilitation program, Phoenix House, in 1967. Rosenthal explains how he was exposed to the Synanon treatment model while serving in the navy in the mid-1960s, and how it inspired him to make structural changes at the Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland, California while he served there as the staff psychiatrist. He discusses the founding of Phoenix House, and the economic conditions that facilitated the program's rapid expansion. He breaks down the budget of Phoenix House, and explains how the organization is funded. Rosenthal discusses trends in the demographics of patients, in terms of age, education level, and types of drugs used. He compares the methadone maintenance model to the therapeutic community model, and discusses popular criticisms of the therapeutic community model. He also compares Phoenix House to its peer facilities, such as Synanon, Daytop, and Odyssey House. Rosenthal describes his hopes for the future of therapeutic communities

Subjects

• Courtwright, David T., 1952- interviewer.
• Drug abuse--United States--History--20th century.
• Drug addicts--Rehabilitation--United States.
• Drug addicts--United States.
• Interviews.
• Methadone maintenance--United States--History--20th century.
• Oak Knoll Naval Hospital (Oakland, Calif.)
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Phoenix House (Organization)
• Rosenthal, Mitchell S., 1935---Interviews.
• Therapeutic communities.

Access Conditions

Copyright by David Courtwright