The legacy of Franco Basaglia: protection of Fundamental rights through deinstitutionalization and social participation

Abstract

The author emphasizes the implications in the field of Constitutional law, of the historical speech given by Franco Basaglia at the national Congress: Society and Mental Diseases which took place in Rome, from the 20th to the 22nd of June 1968. Two cornerstones in Basaglia’s approach are determinant: critics to Psychiatric asylums as oppressive institutions to ban and to overcome; communitarian solidarity and broad participation as the keys to establish and maintain a community based mental health network so to support effective fundamental rights for people with mental disorder.