Madness in its place

This study presents a unique social history of psychiatry in the twentieth century. It brings together the memories and narratives of over sixty patients and workers who lived, or were employed, in Severalls Psychiatric Hospital, Essex, England. Personal accounts are contextualised both in relation to wider developments and issues in twentieth-century mental health, and in relation to policies and changes in the hospital itself. Madness in its Place provides an unusual and very accessible account of trends and changes in the history of psychiatry during the twentieth century, while at the same time offering a lively narrative of the daily lives of those who worked and lived in a typical psychiatric hospital. It is valuable reading for anybody with an interest in mental health, hospitals and hospitalisation, and social policy.