Women and mental health

There is a hidden element, shunned, sometimes even deleted, in the reflections on mental health as in the reconstruction of the overcoming of madhouses determined by experience of Basaglia and by the law No. 180. But the element of gender, the feminine side, is omitted in the psychiatric debate, or distorted because the debate is carried from the masculine side. Assunta Signorelli, psychiatrist and feminist, in her work in mental health services, both theoretical and operational, over forty years has instead placed this issue as a central theme. From the long collaboration with Franco Basaglia, she belonged to him as a student, to the fight in Calabria for the closure of a hospice post-madhouse, Assunta Signorelli worked for the claim and recognition of the characteristics of womanhood in the whole world of psychiatric care.
In her book “Praticare la differenza. Donne, psichiatria e potere” (Practicing the difference. Women, psychiatry and power), presented for the first time in Naples during this festival, she collects and develops her ideas. The event of 9 November is also an opportunity for a collective discussion in a symbolic place, such as the former madhouse of Sant’Eframo, now a space occupied and self-managed by a group called Je sò pazzo (I am crazy), from the title of a song of a popular Italian singer from Napoli, Pino Daniele.
The last part of the book is devoted to the story of a long and strong friendship, between Assunta Signorelli and Fabrizia Ramondino. The event is also the occasion to offer a (small) tribute to one of our most important writers of the last century. Fabrizia Ramondino belonged to Napoli, died prematurely, and perhaps, at least in part, also culpably she was forgotten by her own town.

The space is at the same time a place to remember, and a place to develop new opportunities for socializing the Materdei (Napoli)