Controversial aspects of community psychiatry: the Italian experience.

Abstract

In Italy, health services are provided to 60 million inhabitants by the National Health System (Sistema Sanitario Nazionale SSN), established by Law no. 833 (1978) and with a similar structure to the British NHS system. This structure gives all Italian citizens access to health treatment without any limits, via the health boards, each one of which is responsible for treatment of the residents in a certain geographical area. Access to the health services is normally free of charge, although it is also possible to make citizens pay extra charges for some specific diagnostic or therapeutic services. Law no. 833 (1978) followed Law no. 180 (1978), which proposed a radical reform of mental health treatment in Italy and established four fundamental principles: