The centenary of Franco Basaglia’s birth has been remembered by the mezzi di comunicazione, which rightly attributed to his tenacious battle the law that abolished mental asylums, with all the burden of oppression and neglect that they entailed. The 1978 law, known as Law 180, was a milestone of civilization that does honor to Italy, but this should not overlook the fact that such a courageous and innovative reform would have required an adequate organization to provide effective psychiatric healthcare outside of those structures, or even more so within families living with the tragedy of mental illness. This part, however, is still severely lacking.
Psychiatric care, in many regions, excluding Friuli where there are Psychiatric Assistance Centers open 24 hours a day, is entrusted to clinics open for only a few hours a day, or to Psychiatric Assistance Centers open for only 12 hours a day on weekdays. The majority of patients are assigned to private residences contracted with the local health authorities, which do not always, to use an understatement, guarantee the necessary levels of care, while older patients are often placed in residential homes for the elderly, resulting in a lack of specialized attention and often causing discomfort to other residents.
The effect of all these shortcomings is that the burden of care falls mainly on families, if there are any, without any support to deal with their own and others’ difficulties.
A serious way to commemorate Basaglia would be to carefully examine the real conditions of psychiatric patients and the deficiencies of the healthcare system. The risk is that otherwise, the concern for the presence of these pathologies in society will lead to protests erroneously directed not at the shortcomings of care, but at a reform that is actually necessary. If we want to avoid a return to coercive and essentially prison-like forms of psychiatric “therapy,” it is not enough to praise the innovative and liberating nature of the Basaglia reform, we must make it effective.
The Italian law that abolished mental asylums was a groundbreaking achievement, but it is not enough to simply celebrate it. We must also ensure that its principles are fully implemented in practice. This means investing in community-based mental health services and providing adequate support to families who are caring for their loved ones with mental illness.
In order to truly honor Basaglia’s legacy, we must recognize that the fight for mental health reform is not over. We must continue to push for better access to quality care for those living with mental illness, and for the support and resources necessary to ensure their well-being. Only then can we truly say that we have fulfilled the vision of Franco Basaglia and his tireless efforts to bring about a more humane and compassionate approach to mental healthcare.