Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

This study is available via the UK Data Service Qualibank, an online tool for browsing, searching and citing the content of selected qualitative data collections held at the UK Data Service. This is a qualitative collection. This research is based on the life stories of patients and workers at a large psychiatric hospital in Essex and presents a social history of British psychiatric care in the twentieth century. The memories and narratives of patients and workers who lived, or were employed in Severalls Psychiatric Hospital provide a personal account of day-to-day life, contextualised both in relation to wider developments and issues in twentieth century mental health, and in relation to policies and changes in the hospital itself. Drawing upon both quantitative and qualitative material, the research deals with key areas such as gender divisions, power relations, patterns of admission and discharge, treatments, and the daily lives and routines of patients and nurses on the wards. A booklet produced to mark the Hospital's closure in 1997 featuring many contemporary and historical photographs is included (images 1-28). In addition a number of detailed plans of the estate have also been digitized (images 29-36). The latter have been scanned at high resolution to allow detailed study.

Main Topics:

Hospitals; hospital admissions; mental health; psychiatric treatment; medical treatment; doctors; nurses; patients; gender; everyday life; institutions; occupational life.

Purposive selection/case studies

Face-to-face interview

Compilation/Synthesis

34 interviews with former workers and patients of Severalls hospital