ABSTRACT
An American psychologist, Hershenson, donning the mantle of C. Northcott Parkinson, has wryly proposed a new law of human behaviour. Anybody studying the recent changes in the psychiatric services in Britain will readily agree that at least in this area Hershenson's law has been richly confirmed. Substantial changes in psychiatric care have occurred since the Hospital Plan of 1962 and yet the amount of research devoted to such changes by psychologists or indeed anyone else is remarkably small. Some clues to the answer can be gleaned from examining the work of a number of psychiatrists who have been intimately involved in the development of psychiatric units in general hospitals. It is primarily concerned with documenting the activities of a psychiatric unit in St James's Hospital in Leeds. The medical profession, particularly through its psychiatric wing, has increasingly played the key role in defining the nature of mental disorders.
