''Asylum'' is a quarterly not-for-profit
publication
To publish is to make content available to the general public.[Berne Convention, articl ...](_blank)
described by its creators as a "forum for debate about
mental health
Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...
and
psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior.
...
". It is based in the
UK, and was first published in 1986. It was established by Alec Jenner, professor of psychiatry, Phil Virden, executive editor for the first six years, Lyn Bigwood, among others. Terence McLaughlin was the magazine's executive editor from 2000 to 2007. The current editor is Helen Spandler.
Inspired by the
Democratic Psychiatry movement in
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, the first issue contained a long interview with
R. D. Laing.
It is currently published by PCCS books and is run by an editorial collective of unpaid volunteers. The magazine contains articles, cartoons, news and comments and a creative writing section, covering controversial issues around psychiatry. Anyone can submit content to the magazine, but the Editorial Collective claims to "particularly focus on content that would not be found in the mainstream press". The magazine was re-launched in 2010, after a short break. The Magazine runs conferences, public meetings and other events, such as Asylum reading groups. There was a
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
group formed in 2012.
References
Further reading
* Spandler, H. (2020). Asylum. A magazine for democratic psychiatry in England. In: T. Burns & J. Foot (eds.), ''Basaglia's International Legacy. From Asylum to Community''. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, pp. 205-225.
External links
*
Psychiatry journals
Magazines established in 1989
{{psychiatry-stub