The long awaited English translation of Basaglia's "The Negated Institution:"
A conversation with Professor John Foot
Season 6 | Episode 3 | September 22, 2026
This is the second time I’ve had the privilege to interview Professor John Foot (see Season 3 Episode 5), and this time, it is upon the occasion of the much anticipated translation and publication of the book The Negated Institution: Report from a Psychiatric Hospital edited by Franco Basaglia. This book originally published in 1968 (as “L’ istitutzione negata”) sparked a revolution in thought throughout Italy and the non-English speaking world.
It is a collection of essays, conversations and interviews involving nurses, patients, psychiatrists and others associated with the psychiatric hospital in Gorizia, where Basaglia was assigned before he went to Trieste.
The book is available in hard copy from Punctum Books and is also available as a free downloadable pdf.
We’ll explore with Professor Foot some of the theories as to why a book that was so popular and influential in other parts of the world seemed to be shunned by the more traditional clinical “thought leaders” in the UK and the US. We’ll also explore why, in this time of institutional protections and so little progress in the human-centered focus of our mental health system, reading this book might provide inspiration to spark new ways of thinking about system change.
Professor Foot is the author of The Man Who Closed the Asylums: Franco Basaglia and the Revolution in Mental Health Care.
Some of the topics that surface in this conversation deserve follow up links:
Link to film by Raymond Depardon, San Clemente
Basaglia’s International Legacy by Tom Burns and John Foot, May 2020
The Isaac Foot Collection at University of CA at Santa Barbara
With special recognition to our key sponsors:
· Presenting Sponsor, Tony Hale
· Community Impact Sponsor, Peter Lizotte
And a special thank you to those who have helped to make this season possible:
Sarah Dusseault, Brian Folb, Dave Pilon, Nick Halaris, Jae Lee and David Israelian.