‘Nothing short of a disaster’: Cuts to Trieste’s pioneering mental health system begin

A world renowned model for mental illness in under threat in northern Italy, reports Mark S. Smith

People demonstrate against Covid measures in central Trieste. The impact of the pandemic has been cited as a reason for cuts to the mental health system in the region (REUTERS)

The right-wing regional government of north-eastern Italy has, as feared, begun dismantling its globally renowned system of community psychiatry, known as the “Trieste model”, widely celebrated as one of the world’s most successful models for recovery from mental illness.

Despite protests and petition signatures in their thousands, including many of the world’s most prominent psychiatrists, the local government in Trieste and its surrounding region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia has made good on previous threats to reduce the region’s mental health services in a plan that aims to make way for private investors.

Trieste has been a beacon of holistic psychiatry reform since the 1970s, under the leadership of the late and world-renowned Franco Basaglia. His work ultimately led to the abolition of all mental asylums in Italy.