Letter: Pioneers and victims of care in the community
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: While supporting the general thrust of your editorial on the Clunis case (19 July), I must take issue with you for perpetuating the myth that psychiatric bed closures were initially forced by external critiques. When Irving Goffman's Asylums was published in 1961, mental hospital beds in this country had been closing for seven years. By the time One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was released in the early 1970s, 40,000 beds had closed out of an all-time high, in 1954, of 144,000.
The reduction in psychiatric bed numbers was initiated by psychiatrists and their patients who realised that, with the new treatments available, fewer people actually needed to be in hospital. Moreover, these changes were far in advance of those in other industrialised nations.
The subsequent political enlistment of the process of bed-closure to mask health service under-funding should not detract from the achievements of those early pioneers of more humane and effective psychiatric care.
Yours faithfully,
PHILIP TIMMS
London, SE1
20 July
The writer is a senior lecturer in community psychiatry, Guy's & St Thomas's UMDS.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments