The Scottish Union of Mental Patients was an organisation first established by mental patients at
Hartwood Hospital
Hartwood Hospital was a psychiatric hospital located in the village of Hartwood near the town of Shotts in Scotland.
History
The hospital was designed by John Lamb Murray to accommodate 500 patients and opened as the Lanark District Asylum in 1 ...
in July 1971.
27 patients signed a petition to "redress of grievances and better conditions" at the hospital.
[ This was the first Mental Patients Union to be formed in the UK and predated the Mental Patients' Union founded in London in 1973.]Robin Farquharson
Reginald Robin Farquharson (3 October 1930 – 1 April 1973) was an academic whose interest in mathematics and politics led him to work on game theory. He wrote an influential analysis of voting systems in his doctoral thesis, later published a ...
was also a participant.anti-psychiatry
Anti-psychiatry is a movement based on the view that psychiatric treatment is often more damaging than helpful to patients, highlighting controversies about psychiatry. Objections include the reliability of psychiatric diagnosis, the questionabl ...
SUMP was based on a sense of solidarity amongst a small group of patients detained in locked wards.[
]
Origins
The idea of a union for inmates of mental hospitals was first posed by Archie Meek, a 91 year old geriatric
Geriatrics, or geriatric medicine, is a medical specialty focused on providing care for the unique health needs of older adults. The term ''geriatrics'' originates from the Greek language, Greek γέρων ''geron'' meaning "old man", and ιατ ...
patient. He made this remark to Thomas Ritchie, another patient who was helping Archie shave at the time.[ Ritchie was at the time a state patient – a provision under Scottish Law for the indeterminate detention of a mental patient – under which he was detained for 8 years.
]
References
{{reflist
Psychiatric survivor activists
Mental health in Scotland
Mental health organisations in the United Kingdom