In 1886, the Basel Lunatic Asylum was opened in Basel – a modern psychiatric clinic by the standards of the time. The city was following a trend that could be felt throughout Switzerland from the mid-19th century. Instead of merely detaining the mentally ill, the new institutions were intended to provide healing and care.
Psychiatry has continued to develop in line with international trends and in the wake of social upheaval, such as that seen in the 1960s and 1970s. Over the course of 150 years, the closed "insane asylum" has been transformed into a decentralised, open psychiatric care landscape with a wide range of outpatient services.