What separates the mental patient of the lunatic asylum from the person deemed healthy, living in society at large? Over the course of this magnificent experiential account of his time working at and running the ‘Yellow House’—the Lipótmező asylum, in Budapest, Hungary—István Hollós poses this question and reaches the verdict: if not nothing, a hair’s breadth; at most, circumstances, determined so often by social inequalities.

Originally published in 1927, this book is a manifesto that aims to rethink the practical and theoretical bases of psychiatric care. An incredibly moving summative statement of a life’s work and thought, and relationality with others, it has been luminously translated into English by Adrian Courage. Included within the pages of this edition is further biographical material; contextual correspondence from Sigmund Freud and others; a preface by Eva Gerő-Brabant; and an introduction by Antal Bókay, Monika Perenyei, Raluca Soreanu, and Mónika Takács. Its message and goal resonate in today’s landscape, and live on.

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‘There is no such thing as “the mentally ill”. There are people.’ A jewel of a book – playful, idiosyncratic and full of pathos, combining the Budapest avant garde, the psychoanalysis of Freud and Ferenczi, and the radical insights of a psychiatrist dreaming the erasure of asylum walls. Dedicated to a social group without a society, living in an upturned world.

—Matt ffytche
 
Professor,
Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies 
University of Essex, UK

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A visionary text that exposes the dehumanising violence presiding over psychiatric care in ways that resonate with our times and remind us that not much has changed and a lot is left to be done. Hollós’s radical call for the destigmatisation, the empowerment and the emancipation of those labelled as ‘mentally ill’ remains an inspiration for all.

—Dorothée Bonnigal-Katz

Psychoanalyst & Senior Psychotherapist
Bethlem Royal Hospital

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