On Monday 2 and Tuesday 3 February 2026, the kick-off of the project "In and Out of the Asylum. Psychiatric critiques and reforms in historical perspective" will take place at the Arduino Agnelli Hall, in Androna Campo Marzio 10, Trieste.

The project will be conducted by dr. Francesco Toncich under the supervision of professor Tullia Catalan and hosted by the Department of Humanities (DiSU) of the University of Trieste.

Critiques of psychiatric institutions have existed for as long as the institutions themselves. Therefore, research into the history of psychiatry must include these critiques.

Building on this rationale, the project aims to analyse the enduring dialectic between tendencies for institutionalisation and deinstitutionalisation of mental healthcare in Central Europe from the 1880s to the 1980s. Using a transnational case study, it focuses on the broader geopolitical Alps-Adriatic region, covering territories that were once part of the Habsburg Empire and now span four EU countries: the Italian province of Julian March, the Istrian Peninsula – including the city of Rijeka – the Slovenian territory, and the Austrian regions of Carinthia and Styria.

This macro-region faced repeated traumas throughout the 20th century due to its complex sociocultural structure, competing nationalisms, the emergence of new borders and states, frequent regime and border changes, migration flows, and various forms of political violence. Psychiatry played a central role in this geopolitically unstable region, which experienced periods of great openness and innovation, as well as times of severe repression, particularly when states politicised psychiatry, often targeting national minorities and non-normative social groups living at their borders. Despite this, a comprehensive history of psychiatry in this borderland remains unwritten, and the long-term existence of anti-psychiatry movements in the macro-region is not well recognised.

This project examines the evolution of psychiatric practices from a transnational perspective, particularly through the balance between confinement and non-restraint approaches. It explores how relationships between psychiatric institutions, patients, and civil society evolved amid changing regimes and borders, and how debates on control versus humane care influenced psychiatric practices and shaped the scientific and legal status of patients.

The event will feature leading figures in international research on the history of psychiatry. Two keynote addresses will also be given: one by professor Marta Verginella (University of Ljubljana) and one by professor Volker Hess (Charité Medical University, Berlin).

The workshop will be international and held in English. The event will be open to the public.

The complete workshop program is available in the attachments below.

PROJECT TITLE: “In and Out of the Asylum (I&OTA). Psychiatrists, Patients, Families, and States Torn between Psychiatry and Antipsychiatry in the Upper Adriatic Area: A Border History of Psychiatry”.

GRANT: “Young Researchers 2024 – MSCA”

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: dr. Francesco Toncich

PROJECT DURATION: 22 May 2025 – 21 May 2028

Contact: francesco.toncich@units.it