What appears to us as "normal", "not normal" or "crazy"? Where is the boundary between mentally healthy and mentally ill and how has it shifted over time?
The special exhibition " insanely normal" tells the story of psychiatry in Basel over the last 150 years. And it deals with questions that still concern us today. Patients and experts have their say and discuss current issues relating to psychiatry from different perspectives.
The history of psychiatry is ambivalent: in the search for cures, many methods were tried out, including some that are incomprehensible to us today. The exhibition shows the changes in testing methods, diagnoses and therapies. Patient stories from the Basel clinic provide an insight into everyday life at the clinic, the course of treatment and human destinies.
Even today, mental illness is still a major challenge. Is our time making us ill? What effect does medication have? Do we need coercion? And what kind of psychiatry would we like to see? People affected and experts have their say on these and other questions in the exhibition.
In the nine-part podcast accompanying the exhibition, Katja Rehmann and Micha Gasser tell the stories of nine people who were hospitalised in the Basel psychiatric clinic between 1879 and 1984. Using historical case histories, the podcast looks at everyday life in the clinic, discusses earlier therapeutic approaches and makes personal fates tangible. The podcast is in Swiss German.
The podcast "verrückt normal" is available on all podcast platforms and is released every third Thursday of the month:
Thu / 19.09. / 17.10. / 21.11. / 19.12.2024
Thu / 16.01. / 20.02. / 20.03. / 17.04. / 15.05.2025
The history of psychiatry in Basel
This richly illustrated book in German tells the story of psychiatry in Basel over the last 150 years. A compact overview introduces the general and local history of psychiatry. Selected case stories from historical medical records provide an insight into everyday hospital life in Basel. Twenty historical objects are used to illustrate individual aspects of the history of psychiatry in greater depth.
Published on 18 September 2024
To the online shop
The exhibition and publication were made possible thanks to the generous support of our partners.
Stiftung für das Historische Museum Basel
And other patrons and sponsors who do not wish to be named.
The publication was printed with the support of the Berta Hess-Cohn Foundation, Basel.
Special exhibition in the Barfüsserkirche
Completely trilingual (German, French, English) and wheelchair accessible
Management & administration
PO box | Steinenberg 4
CH-4001 Basel
Office opening hours
8:30 – 12 AM | 13:30 – 17 PM
Reception: +41 61 205 86 00
historisches.museum(at)bs.ch
