The Medical Prescription of Patient Occupation

Abstract

AbstractAnalysis of the different attitudes of English medical superintendents and French chief medical officers towards patient occupation provides an insight into the different conceptions of mental disorder and its treatment held by French and English psychiatrists during the interwar period. It also highlights the different management structures of French and English institutions. Authority for running French institutions was shared between a chief medical officer, in charge of medical matters, and an asylum director, responsible for administration and finance. In England, medical superintendents were in sole charge of their hospitals and had the authority to make decisions regarding all matters concerning management and medical treatment, including patient occupation. Psychiatrists' training, professional networks, and attitude towards innovation and risk all contributed to their vision of what constituted effective treatment. In France, this vision could be compromised by the asylum director’s need to maximise the productivity of the patient workforce.