Anti-Psychiatry, Deinstitutionalization, and Community Mental Health

In the 1960s and 1970s, the care of individuals with severe and persistent forms of mental illness in mental hospitals came under sustained critique in the developed world. Asylum care was criticized as dehumanizing while several anti-psychiatrists questioned the scientific status of psychiatry. Several countries, led by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Italy, moved to deinstitutionalize individuals with mental illness while making alternative forms of care available in the community. It turned out that initiatives in community mental health were insufficient to meet the needs of individuals with mental illness. The critique of mental hospital care was shared by politicians and mental health personnel in several Western countries. The response to this critique, the commencement of deinstitutionalization, the degree to which mental hospital care was maintained, and the development of community mental health services varied significantly between countries. The participants in this panel review developments in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and Australia to gain insights into international variations in the process of deinstitutionalization. Moderator: Hans Pols