Constructing patient-psychiatrist relations in psychiatric hospitals : the role of space and personal action

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Authors

Du Plessis, Rory

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Routledge

Abstract

This essay investigates the role of space and personal action in the construction of patient–psychiatrist relations at psychiatric hospitals. In order to explore such a theme, the writings of R.D. Laing prove to be salutary. This is namely accredited to Laing's tenet that the staff and patients of a psychiatric hospital are institutionalised by both physical structures and personal action. A central approach taken in this essay is to explore Laing's theory through an inter-textual reading of Michel Foucault's Madness and Civilization (1967) and Erving Goffman's Asylums (1961).

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Keywords

R.D. Laing, Erving Goffman, Michel Foucault, Psychiatric hospitals, Patient-psychiatrist relations

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Citation

Du Plessis, R 2013, 'Constructing patient-psychiatrist relations in psychiatric hospitals : the role of space and personal action', Social Semiotics, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 424-443.