The history of Kingsley Hall is both fascinating and terrifying: it is a building in which one of the most impressive experiments in psychiatry took place during the twentieth century.
At first, it was a community center dedicated to various educational and social activities, even Gandhi stayed here, like many others?Hunger protesters?1935.
- Ronald Laing.
- A physician and resident of several psychiatric units for a few years.
- Was one of the pioneers of the antipsychiatry movement.
Laing himself applied for permission in 1965 to use Kingsley Hall as his headquarters to provide alternative treatment to so-called “mentally ill”, particularly those who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
“The founding members of Kingsley Hall hoped to demonstrate their original idea that lost souls could heal by going crazy among people who see madness as an opportunity to die and be reborn. “- R. D. Laing-
Beginning in the 1950s, psychiatry began to have a prominent profile. It was also the time of seizure therapies, electroshocks and early “anti-madness” chemical drugs. Laing was very critical of these methods.
He had a vision of insanity that contradicted the perspective of classical biological psychiatry, so he wanted to try a new way of approaching and treating people with schizophrenia.
That’s what he did at Kingsley Hall for five years. In the end, the conclusions of the experiment were affected by some excess and lightness.
Laing described a fundamental contradiction in psychiatry. He argued that the diagnosis was based on observing a person’s behavior; however, there was (or is) no single clinical evidence that schizophrenia is a brain disease.
Still, the treatment was biological. He therefore argued that schizophrenia was not a fact, but a theory.
He also suggested that madness was a kind of trance that some people were going through, a kind of trip to dark regions of himself.
However, it is possible to return from this journey, often with more wisdom than before. What the doctor should do is authorize and monitor this process from the outside, rather than suppressing it.
At Kingsley Hall, patients lived with psychiatrists. The rules were decided by the residents of the building, but none of them were strictly obliged to respect them.
On the contrary, everyone was encouraged to live their madness as they wished, those who were better off helping those who were not well, were a community of solidarity.
During the nearly five years of experimentation, remarkable achievements have been observed, particularly the case of Mary Barnes, a woman with schizophrenia who had entered several psychiatric hospitals without showing any improvement.
At Kingsley Hall, she was encouraged to paint the walls with her own stools, which she wanted to do. Over time, she became a famous painter and also a writer. She was the author of a famous book called Viagem Through Madness.
More than 100 patients were part of kingsley Hall’s history. One of the controversial aspects of the experiment was the use of LSD, a psychedelic drug, to apparently facilitate certain mental experiences.
The truth is that all this ended up attracting people who had substance abuse problems and lived on the street. The Kingsley Hall area began to express a strong rejection of everything that was going on there.
At Kingsley Hall, patients were encouraged to go crazy as much as possible, that is, should they make their journey?Without any restrictions. People were free to come and go whenever they wanted. This, of course, was a very “crazy” thing.
The word, Order, was contrary to such a community, to such an experience. This may have led them to break down barriers that eventually hurt them.
In all cases, several patients were cured at Kingsley Hall. There was no methodical account in itself, but there were several patients who came and now give their testimony of reason.
However, there was also a couple who jumped from the roof of the building, in addition, there were other patients who were never heard of after their stay.
In 1969, Kingsley Hall was declared an uninhabitable place. Thus ended the interesting experience that uneasy many neighbors and professionals of psychiatry, is understandable.
The stinking spaces with patients screaming all night or screaming for a bottle are not easy to accept, but it is a pity that the conclusions of this experiment have never been formalized.