ABSTRACT
William Gesler usefully distinguishes between space and place by describing place as ‘space filled with people acting out their lives’. While consideration of space and place is increasingly prominent within the history of medicine in general and the history of psychiatry in particular, patients are often absent or peripheral figures in accounts. Considered inclusion of patient accounts of their own experiences adds richness and depth to historical narratives, while the language of patient stories immediately prompts us to explore definitions of space and place. This chapter highlights the increasing individualization and fragmentation of patient spaces and places within the mental health care system since the inception of the National Health Service in 1948. It considers depictions of hospital spaces in more detail; first, as they are divided along the lines of ‘good’ and ‘bad’, and then in the light of how ownership of various hospital places has been established, contested, negotiated, or bartered.
