Il protagonismo degli utenti: dal manicomio al territorio

the Authors trace the changes in user leadership, from the asylum to the recent meeting, organized by users only, in Massa. This evolution echoes the generalized need to participate. They underline, in parallel with leadership growth, the rising diffusion of user reviews and books describing life stories of endured violence. The Authors recall the debate - between the teacher Pasquale Spadi (a well-known patient of the psychiatric hospital of Arezzo) Basaglia, Pirella, Tranchina and Della Mea - that was to become the preamble to Pasquale Spadi’s book. General assemblies, during the final period of the asylums, played a fundamental role in the genesis of user leadership. These assemblies gained importance through their resonance with those organized during the same period in factories and universities. The Authors underline also the role played by self-help groups and give two examples: Coleman and the group of users, professionals and family members that travelled from Rome to Strasburg to meet some representatives of the European Parliament in order to underline the positive outcomes of the Italian law 180 that sanctioned, in 1978, the end of psychiatric hospitals. Finally, the Authors present the phenomenologic epoché, suspension of judgment, as one of the first actions putting mental disease in brackets and hence promoting user leadership, clear of personal roles, histories and diversities.

Paolo Tranchina, Maria Pia Deodori, Il protagonismo degli utenti: dal manicomio al territorio in "RIVISTA SPERIMENTALE DI FRENIATRIA" 2/2007, pp 113-131, DOI: