The Italian Transformation of the Asylum

Abstract

practices. One recent account, accompanied by some striking before and after pictures, claims that results of Psichiatria Democratica have spread throughout Italy, particularly in the north and centre, though it still has opponents. The writer adds, Clearly, there are lessons for Britain in the Italian experience [1]. It is notable that such reports have come in the main from social work and nursing journals rather than from the medical press, and that they tend to be based on accounts of services in particular localities-Trieste, Verona, Cortona, Perugia [2]. A medical commentator [3] has suggested that there are problems: the overcrowding of the 15-bed diagnosis and treatment units in general hospitals, the rapid growth of private clinics, sometimes of dubious standards, inadequate community provision, cumbersome legal procedures. The much more voluminous Italian literature suggests a complex and controversial situation. Supporters of Psichiatria Democratica now admit that there have been problems, but blame these on the blocking tactics of medical opponents, politicians, and bureaucrats rather than on Law 180. Franca Ongaro Basaglia, widow of Professor Franco Basaglia and a Deputy in the Italian National Assembly, writes: