Deinstitutionalization in Italian psychiatry – the course and consequences Part I. The course of deinstitutionalization – the activity of Basaglia’s group

Abstract

Psychiatric reform in Italy consisted of the implementation of legislative changes derived from anti-institutional experiments conducted by Franco Basaglia and his group in the 60's and 70's of the 20th century. The activity of Basaglia's group was an integral part of the European reform movement of that time, which profited from the economic, cultural and political prosperity for changes in psychiatry. Italian antipsychiatry has led to the most radical experiment in deinstitutionalization in history. It involved the whole public sector of psychiatry and across a quarter-century resulted in a grand social debate on the situation of the mentally ill and the need for systemic change of their treatment and care. Inspired mainly by phenomenological analysis, Basaglia opted for close emphatic contact with the mentally ill. While the British, French and American anti-psychiatrists contested the psychiatric care system as such, the Italian radicals made an approach to disassemble it from the inside and successfully gained social support for the process of deinstitutionalization. Basaglia promoted his ideas across Europe, including the World Health Organization (WHO) forum.

New classifications of epilepsies and seizure types created by the International League against Epilepsy (2017)

“…Некоторые авторы [18,19] считают, что обсуждаемое движение может выступить в роли «троянского коня» со своей массовой «медикализацией» населения развивающихся стран и открыть дорогу «Большой Фарме» (экспансии фармакологических фирм), пренебрегающих интересами социально ориентированного здравоохранения. К самому радикальному эксперименту по отношению к психиатрии в ее истории привело антипсихиатрическое движение в 60-70-х годах прошлого века [20,21]. Известно, что первоначально речь шла о психиатрической реформе в Италии, которая представляла собой введение изменений на законодательном уровне, в направлении деинституционализации, т.е.…”