Spain

Abstract

This chapter analyses the influence of Franco Basaglia and the organization ‘Psichiatria Democrática’ on the Spanish critical movements. These movements appeared in 1971 and were organized through a clandestine group known as the ‘Psychiatric Coordinator’. This organization linked professionals (mainly young psychiatrists) who had initiated innovative experiences in various psychiatric hospitals. These developments generated conflict when opposing the norms of the dictatorship. From 1975, and especially after the approval of the 1978 Constitution, the critical movement was a force for change in mental health structures in Spain, through the established organization, the Spanish Association of Neuropsychiatry. This effort made it possible to generate the psychiatric reform in 1985 that advocated community mental health and deinstitutionalization policies. Franco Basaglia began his contacts with the Spanish critical professionals in 1970, and the relationship was maintained periodically until 1980, the year of his death.