Franco basaglia: Biography of a revolutionary

Abstract

1978-2018: 40 years since the passing of the Basaglia law, which decreed the closure of psychiatric hospitals in Italy (where almost hundred thousand were confined), the primary goal of Franco Basaglia in his lifelong struggle against the violence of total institutions and, in particular, mental asylums. This article offers a reflection on the human, intellectual, and professional trajectory of Basaglia, highlighting his criticisms of the backwardness of university clinics, his interest in the therapeutic dimension of care (Binswanger and Minkowski), the influence on his thinking of European philosophy more open to the complexity of the human being (Husserl, Jaspers, Merleau-Ponty, and Sartre), and his encounter with historical (Foucault), sociological (Goffman), and anti-institutional (Fanon) perspectives on mental health.