Joan Bicknell (10 April 1939 – 12 June 2017) was Britain's first female psychiatry professor. She worked at

St George's, University of London St George's, University of London (SGUL), legally the St George's Hospital Medical School, was a public medical school from 1733 to 2024 in South London, England. It merged with City, University of London to form City St George's, University of ...

and pioneered the area of

learning disability Learning disability, learning disorder, or learning difficulty (British English) is a condition in the brain that causes difficulties comprehending or processing information and can be caused by several different factors. Given the "difficulty ...

. She confronted

cruelty Cruelty is the intentional infliction of suffering or the inaction towards another's suffering when a clear remedy is readily available. Sadism can also be related to this form of action or concept. Cruel ways of inflicting suffering may involv ...

at psychiatric hospitals and was a

human rights advocate A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campai ...

of institutionalized people with intellectual disabilities, unpopular with and never accepted by the

medical establishment Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practice ...

. She introduced multidisciplinary hospital management and

community-based care {{Unreferenced, date=January 2023 Community-based care serves as a "bridge" between orphanage and settlement house. Adolescents are placed in a family in their community. The guardians will provide individual care and nurture in the context of a f ...

Early life and education

Joan Bicknell was born into a working-class family in

Isleworth Isleworth ( ) is a suburban town in the London Borough of Hounslow, West London, England. It lies immediately east of Hounslow and west of the River Thames and its tributary the River Crane, London, River Crane. Isleworth's original area of ...

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 ...

. Her father Albert worked as a bricklayer, later in bomb disposal with

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

. Her mother, Dorothy (), was a secretary. She had an older brother, Edward, who died as a teacher in

Swaziland Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where ...

. She also had two fostered brothers with intellectual disabilities. Bicknell attended Twickenham County School for Girls and studied medicine at

Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

in 1962.Geoff Watts
Obituary Joan Bicknell
The Lancet. Volume 390, No. 10113, p 2622, 16 December 2017 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)33113-6

Career

After graduation she worked with children at Ilesha Wesley Guild hospital in

Oyo, Nigeria Oyo is a city in Oyo State, Nigeria. It was founded as the capital of the remnant of the historic Oyo empire in the 1830s, and is known to its people as 'New Oyo' (Ọ̀yọ́ Àtìbà) to distinguish it from the former capital to the north, 'Ol ...

as a Methodist missionary. When the

Nigerian Civil War The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Biafran War, Nigeria-Biafra War, or Biafra War, was fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a Secession, secessionist state which had declared its independen ...

began in 1967, she left for Sierra Leone to work with the flying doctor service. She returned to the UK to study psychiatry at Queen Mary's Hospital, in

Carshalton Carshalton ( ) is a town, with a historic village centre, in south London, England, within the London Borough of Sutton. It is situated around southwest of Charing Cross and around east by north of Sutton town centre, in the valley of the Rive ...

, a hospital for long-term care of children in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. In 1969, she obtained a diploma in

psychological medicine ''Psychological Medicine'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal in the field of psychiatry and related aspects of psychology and basic sciences. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the journal has a 2020 impact factor of 7.723. History ...

, and in 1971 she completed a thesis on causes and prevalence of

lead poisoning Lead poisoning, also known as plumbism and saturnism, is a type of metal poisoning caused by lead in the body. Symptoms may include abdominal pain, constipation, headaches, irritability, memory problems, infertility, numbness and paresthesia, t ...

in institutionalised children.Sheila Hollin
Joan Bicknell obituary
The Guardian, 2 July 2017 She became a consultant psychiatrist at Botleys Park Hospital in

Chertsey Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, southwest of central London. It grew up around Chertsey Abbey, founded in AD 666 by Earconwald, St Erkenwald, and gained a municipal charter, market charter from Henry I of Engla ...

, Surrey. In 1978, she was appointed to a task force modernising psychiatric care at Normansfield Hospital. She introduced managing a hospital through a multidisciplinary team rather than, as was then customary, a

Medical Superintendent A chief physician, also called a head physician, physician in chief, senior consultant, or chief of medicine, is a physician in a senior management position at a hospital or other institution. In many institutions, it is the title of the most sen ...

. Eventually Bicknell was awarded a professorship at

and became Britain's first female professor in psychiatry. In her inaugural lecture 19 November 1980 called "psychopathology of handicap" she dealt with the family's reaction to the diagnosis of intellectual disability drawing an analogy to the stages of grief in the

bereavement Grief is the response to the loss of something deemed important, particularly to the death of a person to whom or animal to which a bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, grief also ha ...

process. Bicknell concentrated on humanising care of people with

intellectual disabilities Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability (in the United Kingdom), and formerly mental retardation (in the United States), Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010).Archive is a generalized neurodevelopmental ...

. She took a position in bioethical hot spots years before others like the sterilization of minors with developmental disabilities in 1988, compared to the American Academy of Pediatrics for example in 1990. Her approach challenged the expectation that people were better not cared for in their own homes and meant that Bicknell was never part of the

Personal life

Bicknell had asthma and other health problems, eventually mental illness. She retired early at age 50. She moved to

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

county with her partner Diana Worsley, owning a farm for children with disabilities to have contact with animals. She died of cancer in

Stalbridge Stalbridge () is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England, situated in the Blackmore Vale, near the border with Somerset. In the 2021 census the civil parish—which includes the hamlets of Stalbridge Weston, and Thornhill—had 1,224 househ ...

in Dorset county.

Legacy

In 1990, the Psychiatry of Disability Division at St George's Hospital Medical School, established the Joan Bicknell Prize for the best essay on an aspect of the Psychiatry of Disability written and presented by a registrar and senior registrar.Joan Bicknell Prize
Psychiatric Bulletin ( 1990), 14,382-383 A building in Tooting, London was named Joan Bicknell Centre.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bicknell, Joan 1939 births 2017 deaths English psychiatrists British women psychiatrists Alumni of the University of Birmingham Academics of St George's, University of London People from Isleworth Patient advocacy English human rights activists Women human rights activists British expatriates in Nigeria

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

Legacy

Further reading

References