ABSTRACT
DURING the past generation a revolution has taken place in the attitude to the mentally ill. Up to about 1930 it was generally accepted that their treatment should be institutional, with a maximum of segregation and a minimum of medical care, the medical profession generally not being particularly interested in this type of patient. Since then new methods of treatment (in particular insulin and shock therapy) and new drugs have been introduced, and the emphasis has shifted from custody to cure. The substitution of the new name of mental hospital for the old name of asylum has come to have a real meaning.
