Anarchism, the 1960s-1970s "counter-culture", and mental health practice and activism in the UK

Hi everyone,

I am trying to carry out research on any possible connections between anarchism, the "counter-culture" of the 1960s and 1970s, and mental health practice and activism, in the UK.

This is, admittedly, quite broad, but its intended to be: the research at this point is somewhat nebulous, and, further, I am hoping to get quite a broad overview which may offer inspiration as to what avenues to pursue.

I am under the impression that there was somewhat of a revival of libertarian socialism, leftist-Marxism, anarchism, and the various other 'flavours' of this type of political ideology and activity after the middle of the twentieth century. At the same time - and I suspect that there is a strong connection (i.e. it isn't coincidental) - there was the counter-culture movement, of which anti-psychiatry and reformist psychiatry featured as a prominent element. Disability and mental health activism also started to gain traction at this time (e.g. the creation of the Mental Patients' Union in the 1970s, the forerunner of the Survivors' groups).

In this milieu, some new mental health and penal practices were established, and some pre-existing practices were adapted/refined; practices that involved a shift away from the more conventional - perhaps more paternalistic and repressive - towards the (ostensibly) more democratic, communalistic and permissive. Examples include the 'Hawkspur experiment', the Little Commonwealth, Kingsley Hall, and the Henderson hospital.

There is a connection between these approaches (sometimes referred to as Planned Environment Therapy and/or Therapeutic Communities), and the anti-psychiatry and counter-culture movement of the time, but I am trying to identify a place for anarchism within this history. As a brief example, in "Talking Anarchy" by David Goodway and Colin Ward, Colin Ward, when discussing these planned environment/therapeutic community approaches to the 'treatment' of 'delinquent youngsters' (loaded terminology, but its use makes clear what I am referring to), says that:

"I, of course, was gratified that the connections that I was attempting to build in the journal Anarchy in the 1960s and later in the book Anarchy in Action, between anarchist ideology and the experience of those people who were brave enough to set up self-governing, non-punitive communities of "delinquent" youngsters, were at last recognized outside the anarchist movement." pg. 134.

Colin Ward also makes reference to someone from the (relatively) more mainstream of mental health practice making the same connection in the journal "Therapeutic communities"; this is the quote given in the aforementioned book:
"That reviewer [i.e. the psychotherapist from the more mainstream practice] found that he had the sensation of "meeting people digging a tunnel towards the therapeutic community from another place in society with the same basic idea."" pg. 134.

There is a connection between changes in mental health practice and the anarchist movement being articulated here. As another brief example, this is a letter by David Wills of the Hawkspur camp, this excerpt is about his motivating ideology:

"... one of the things that follows for me, is the good old anarchist slogan ‘No man is good enough to be another man’s master’. Men have no right to order one another about nor to exercise power over one another, but should live together in such a way as to express in themselves, and to encourage expression in others, of what we Quakers call the inner light, or that of God ... So when I got to Hawkspur camp ... shared responsibility was not something that I 'allowed’ the clients to ‘have’. On the contrary it was an inalienable right, of which I had no right (and no wish) to deprive them." (adapted from Diamond J. (2005) Some Strands of a Longer Story – Reflections on the Development of Therapeutic Child Care in Britain. Therapeutic Communities, 26(4): 495–502: pg. 449.)

He explicitly references anarchism. Although it is not suggesting that he identifies as an anarchist, it nonetheless shows a certain affinity between the ideologies that motivated him to adopt the practices that he did and the ideologies present in anarchism (at least in his interpretation, although I think it is fairly accurate, even if the notion of "inner light" is somewhat ambiguous).

Hopefully this gives an impression of what I am looking for. There appears to be a connection between anarchism, both ideology and the movement, and the planned environment therapy/therapeutic community practice of the 1960s and 1970s. My aim is to elucidate this connection, and the connection to mental health practice and activism more broadly. This may be direct (e.g. individuals working in the planned environment therapy/therapeutic community field might identify as anarchists or sympathise with anarchist ideals) or indirect (e.g. through anarchist influence on the counter-culture and anti-psychiatry, which then influenced planned environment therapy/therapeutic community practice).

If anyone has any recommendations or information, such as books, journals, articles, periodicals, individuals, groups, personal experience, and so forth, in relation to anarchism circa the 1960s-1970s that they think would be useful in attempting to explore the connection between anarchism and mental health practice and activism in this period then it would be greatly appreciated. If you know of anyone that has a connection to anarchism and/or the mental health advocacy movement in this period, I would be extremely grateful if you could enquire about any leads I could follow-up on.

Finally (I swear I shall leave it here), if anyone has any recommendations regarding the position of prominent anarchist thinkers and mental health and mental health care, that would also be appreciated.

If this is not clear, I am more than happy to clarify anything,
Any help would be really appreciated; even if you are unsure of its relevance, let me know anyway – as mentioned at the beginning, my scope is currently quite broad.

Thanks comrades,
Jay.