Revolutions and the rights of man

Abstract

The author describes the dialectical struggle in psychiatric treatment between those who advocate maximum liberty in the management of the mentally disordered and those who believe such patients will benefit more from firm guidance and discipline. He uses illustrations from British psychiatric history to illustrate this struggle. He also points out and discusses two current challenges to psychiatry worldwide: the unconstructive hostility of the various schools of antipsychiatry and the political abuse of psychiatric diagnosis and treatment, particularly in the USSR.