Open AccessFranco Basaglia and the radical psychiatry movement in Italy, 1961–78
Author(s) -
John Foot
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
critical and radical social work
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.268
H-Index - 3
eISSN - 2049-8675
pISSN - 2049-8608
DOI - 10.1332/204986014x14002292074708
Subject(s) - democracy , psychiatry , movement (music) , human rights , mental health , political science , sociology , psychology , law , art , aesthetics , politics
This article provides a short introduction to the life and work of Italian radical psychiatrist and mental health reformer Franco Basaglia. A leading figure in the democratic psychiatry movement, Basaglia is little known and often misunderstood in the English-speaking world. This article will seek to address this by highlighting Basaglia's significant role in the struggle for both deinstitutionalisation and the human rights of those incarcerated in Italy's asylums during the 1960s and 1970s.