The OPIS of Lecce: Reconstruction of its history and analysis of its organizational model. Part One.

Abstract

This work arises inside of the debate about mental health treatment, and is intended to preserve the historical memory of the experience of the Interprovincial Psychiatric Hospital of Salento di Lecce (OPIS), reconstructing the cultural and organizational models that characterized it. In this first part we will delineate the cultural-historical context which resulted in the creation of the asylum, and its development as a psychiatric hospital; in the second part we will deal with a comparison between the results of this work and the findings on the Local Culture of Italian mental health services. The comparison will focus in particular on the results of the study carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Health from 2007 to 2009 by the Clinical Psychology Chair of the Psychology Department at the University of Rome “Sapienza,” a study intended to outline the Local Culture of the CSM (Centers for Mental Health); it will also focus on the results of the same department’s study, in this case commissioned by the Regional Coordinators of the SPDC of Lazio, aimed at outlining the Local Culture of the SPDC (Psychiatric Diagnosis and Care Service) of the Region.
We believe that this work is in line with the need for greater understanding of aspects of the organizational functioning of mental health services, a need expressed by many social groups, by the scientific community, and in particular by the Ministry, which for the first time has invested in research on organizational effectiveness rather than on the effectiveness of pharmacological treatments-- all of which underscore the value and importance attributed to the organizational and cultural aspects of the operations of mental health treatment services, and testify to the need for critical reflection on this topic.