‘Heading up a blind alley’? Scottish psychiatric hospitals in the era of deinstitutionalization

Vicky Long

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)
1416 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This article examines Scottish provision of psychiatric care in the 1960s and 1970s. It demonstrates that institutional services did not rapidly disappear across the UK following the Ministry of Health’s decision to shut down psychiatric hospitals in 1961, and highlights Scotland’s distinctive trajectory. Furthermore, it contends that psychiatric hospitals developed new approaches to assist patients in this era, thereby contributing towards the transformation of post-war psychiatric practice. Connecting a discussion of policy with an analysis of provision, it examines the Department of Health for Scotland’s cautious response to the Ministry’s embrace of deinstitutionalization, before analysing Glasgow’s psychiatric provision in the 1970s. At this point the city boasted virtually no community-based services, and relied heavily on its under-resourced and over-burdened hospitals. Closer analysis dispels any impression of stagnation, revealing how ideologies of deinstitutionalization transformed institutional care.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)115-128
Number of pages14
JournalHistory of Psychiatry
Volume28
Issue number1
Early online date21 Oct 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2017

Keywords

  • psychiatric care
  • Scottish history
  • psychiatric hospitals

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of '‘Heading up a blind alley’? Scottish psychiatric hospitals in the era of deinstitutionalization'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this