New grants to research history of antipsychiatry movement

04 November 2010

Until the 1960s, psychiatric patients were stigmatised as ‘ill’ and asylums were little more than prisons. A group of psychiatrists revolted, advocating more humane treatment.

This was the beginning of the 'anti-psychiatry movement', which is explored in two new Medical History and Humanities grants. Professor John Foot of University College London is studying the Italian psychiatrist Franco Basaglia, a key figure who spearheaded the reform of Italian asylums.

Meanwhile, Professor Howard Caygill and Dr David Reggio of Goldsmiths, University of London are investigating the factors that led to reform in Brazil, and how changes in France had an influence.

Image: Victorian asylum - High Royds Hospital, Menston, Ilkley, Yorkshire. Credit: Wellcome Library.