Trente ans après : la révolution psychiatrique italienne en perspective

Abstract

Background In May 1978, was voted Law 180, forbidding any new admission in Italian mental hospitals. Many authors set it as an example to be followed in other countries; others contradict this point of view. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the Italian psychiatric revolution in retrospect thirty years later. Method Several articles and books written by stakeholders and by social researchers were reviewed. Results The occurrence of the Italian psychiatric revolution cannot be understood without considering the backward situation of mental care in Italy at the time. Changes began before 1978 but were accelerated and shaped by the law. However, some flaws of the previous system have remained over time, most of all, the North-South gap. Discussion Three points are specially original in Italy and need to be considered before advocating a similar law in another country: first, phasing out psychiatric hospitals went along with difficult problems, second in Italy, local human action is very important, so that implementation of such a law is a bottom-up process, and third, the history of the Italian mental care system has created in the general population a lower propensity to seek care than in other countries.