(Anti)Psychiatry and Democracy

In what ways can the critics of psychiatry and psychiatric institutions teach us new ways of thinking about democracy today?
This colloquium will attempt to answer this question by reflecting on both historical and contemporary approaches to the psychiatric institution. We will discuss in particular the figure of Franco Basaglia, the prominent Italian psychiatrist who sought to revolutionize his own discipline and practice, and who inspired the so-called Legge Basaglia (1978), which ultimately led to the closure of psychiatric hospitals in Italy, long regarded as sites of socio-economic oppression. Basaglia also founded an association of psychiatrists— Psichiatria Democratica (Democratic Psychiatry)—whose very name signals the deep interconnection he envisioned between psychiatry and democracy.
The colloquium will approach these complex issues from both inside and outside psychiatry: the parentheses around “(Anti)” in the title are meant to suggest precisely this ambiguity. Our speakers will therefore include professionals from the field of mental health alongside distinguished scholars from the humanities, engaging in a heteroglossic reflection that brings together feminist and decolonial perspectives, continental theory, and other critical approaches.

The confirmed participants are :

- Mario Colucci, Psychiatrist - Dipartimento di salute mentale di Trieste

- Pierangelo Di Vittorio, Philosopher and writer

- Fabian Freyenhagen, University of Essex

- Silvia Lippi, Psychoanalyst

- François Noudelmann, NYU

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