ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a very brief account of some aspects of the history of the Association as a whole, its organizational problems and some of the measures taken to solve them. It considers the development of the main themes outlined, starting with the definition and protection of function. One of the main issues for the Association in the attempts to reach a definition of psychiatric social work has been the working out of the relationship of workers to medical colleagues and their place in the growing complexity of the National Health Service. The social workers most concerned in any ‘demarcation’ dispute were, of course, the medico-social workers or almoners. Social workers are certainly pressing for the rewards of financial and social recognition that accompany professional status in our society; they want to define, protect and further their interests.
