The quantification of the psychiatric revolution: a quasi-natural experiment of the suicide impact of the Basaglia Law.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The Italian 180/1978 reform abolishing asylums is one of the most contested mental health programs ever implemented. It aimed to shift care of mental illness into the community improving outcomes and reducing expenditure. It was a model for successive deinstitutionalization initiatives across Europe and North America. However, there were longstanding concerns that, without expansion of community care, it may have deprived patients with mental illness access to support, placing them at increased risk of suicide.

Methods

Regression discontinuity models were used to quantify the association between the number of suicides and the introduction of the Basaglia Law, disaggregated by age-group and gender, covering 20 Italian regions during the period 1975-84. Models were

SUBMITTER: Ronchetti C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7292351 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature