Mental A History of the Madhouse

Documentary which tells the fascinating and poignant story of the closure of Britains mental asylums In the postwar period 150000 people were hidden away in 120 of these vast Victorian institutions all across the country Today most mental patients or service users as they are now called live out in the community and the asylums have all but disappeared Through powerful testimonies from patients nurses and doctors the film explores this seismic revolution and what it tells us about societys changing attitudes to mental illness over the last sixty years