La psiquiatría y la salud mental en el tardofranquismo: las misiones de los expertos de la OMS y la labor del PANAP

Abstract

We review the beginnings of the technical assistance programs of the WHO in Spain for issues related to mental health, which, since the mid-1960s, were carried out in collaboration with the General Directorate of Health (DGS) and the National “Patronato” for Psychiatric Assistance (PANAP), linked to the DGS. The work uses as fundamental sources unpublished reports by WHO experts, which were the result of visits and missions carried out in Spain between 1965 and 1975. The PANAP and the DGS had a change in their orientations as of 1964, in the context of Franco's developmentalism, with their actions and efforts oriented towards a psychosocial and health-promoting approach, very aligned with the WHO Mental Health policies. Is it noteworthy all the work of training / propaganda / health dissemination through books, magazines (Salud Mental), publications (Cuadernos para la Educación en Salud Mental), and film and TV documentaries (NO-DO newsreels)