Abstract

This chapter unveils a fragment of the history of child mental hygiene in Chile from a psychological and educational perspective, emphasizing the cultural and institutional issues of the period 1920–1964. The characteristics of the Conduct Disorder Clinic [CDC] created in 1936 are studied, which clarifies some ways of approaching these cases. It defines and characterizes a particular form of intervention in childhood whose promulgation began in the 1920s and which, shortly after, led to Chile: mental hygiene. Finally, some surveillance and control projects proposed between the 1920s and 1940s that targeted Chilean children and where the relationship between psychology, education, and society is linked through different mechanisms are discussed.