ABSTRACT
My first reaction on reading this account was to identify with what I imagined was the experience of the observer, first on not being noticed when he went to the nurses’ office, and then sitting in the room waiting for the meeting to start. It was the experience of being ignored, unrecognized, almost not existing. I was surprised at how these very disturbing ideas could be so easily aroused just by reading the opening lines of the account, which recalled some of my own experiences of ward meetings. It was a reminder of how powerful the effect can be simply of walking on to an acute psychiatric ward without a clearly defined role, of feeling excluded from the busy world of those with roles.
