Developments in Family Psychiatry in the United Kingdom

Abstract

In the United Kingdom, Family Psychiatry began at the Ipswich Hospital, in 1949, mainly as a reaction to the then prevailing practice of child psychiatry. The family became the unit not only of theoretical formulations, but also of clinical psychiatric practice. Family psychopathology is understood in terms of real experience; family diagnosis is arrived at by taking into account the total dysfunctioning of the family, and family therapy, a part of Family Psychiatry, is applied with the aim of benefiting the family as a whole. Developments in the inpatient field have followed. The efforts of a number of British workers have been directed to the problem of schizophrenia and the family.

Richard Arwed Pfeifer – a pioneer of ‘medical pedagogy’ and an opponent of Paul Schröder

“…In the 1930s the prison’s psychotherapists, Jonathan C. Mackwood and Jonathan H. Gould, suggested separating juvenile inmates with mental peculiarities in a new segregated facility, which they proposed should have 300 inmates; this facility should feel as unlike a prison as possible, and the main intervention would be guidance and training (Mackwood and Gould, 1950: 72). Between 1930 and 1945 there were discussions as to which services should be provided for the best care for ‘emotionally disturbed’ children, and this resulted in a reduction of the role of clinical psychiatry (Howells and Osborn, 1980/81: 195–7).…”

“…In the USA, the child guidance movement started in 1909 when William Healys (1869–1963) began working with juvenile delinquents (Snodgrass, 1984). In 1917 the Healy and Bonner Judge Baker Clinic, the first American CGC, was launched in Boston (Evans et al, 2008: 467; Howells and Osborn, 1980/81). Before that, Healy had founded the Institute for Juvenile Research at Cook Country Juvenile Court in Chicago, which basically aimed to guide and influence juvenile delinquents and their families in a social-psychiatric way and to help them cope with potential financial problems (McShane and Williams, 2003: 246)…”

“…Child guidance relied increasingly on a multidisciplinary approach, in which doctors, psychologists, social workers, probation and police officers gave expert advice to delinquent and problem children and youths, their parents, teachers and authorities (Evans et al, 2008: 467; Howells and Osborn, 1980/81: 194; Snodgrass, 1984). This very individual and strong psychological approach is in line with Pfeifer’s approach.…”