What is it about?
This chapter explores the closure of a mental hospital in the north of England in the 1980s. It considers how people who lived and worked in the hospital viewed the prospect of closure and compares that with some views from the local communities. It uses oral histories collected at the time and a mix of archival materials.
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Photo by Marcel Strauß on Unsplash
Why is it important?
This chapter offers a unique opportunity to 'hear' patients and other voices collected in the 1980s, at a time when mental hospitals were earmarked for closure.
Perspectives
This was a good opportunity for a historian of mental illness and institutions and an oral historian to work in partnership.
Rob Ellis
Manchester Metropolitan University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Narratives of De-Institutionalisation: Patient and Community Responses to Mental Hospital Closures in England, October 2024, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004519848_006.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Voices in the History of Madness. Personal and Professional Perspectives on Mental Health and Illness
An edited collection exploring new perspectives using a multiplicity of voices in the histories of mental ill-health.
Voices in the History of Madness. Personal and Professional Perspectives on Mental Health and Illness
An edited collection exploring the multiplicity of voices involved in histories of mental health and illness.
London and its Asylums
A monograph exploring the impact of politics and politicians on mental health care.
Contributors
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