Disclaimer: -

Part 2 of the podcast contains strong language in a few areas. Listener discretion is advised.

In Part 2, Dr Tom Harrison uses his extensive knowledge to delve deeply into the groundbreaking Northfield Experiments at Hollymoor hospital in South Birmingham. These took place in a turbulent period of Birmingham's history in WW2.

- Who were Wilfred Bion and John Rickman? Tom looks into the backgrounds and work of these pioneering psychoanalysts who conducted the 1st of the Northfield Experiments in 1942. We learn about the military patients they treated and what led them to conduct the 1st experiment.

- Why was the 1st experiment shut down after 6 weeks? Was it useful?

- Dr Siegmund Foulkes, Harold Bridger and Thomas Main ran the 2nd experiment. Tom looks into the intriguing way this was conducted and how the care offered patients at Hollymoor was revolutionary.

- Did group therapy and the 'therapeutic community' originate from these experiments at Hollymoor?

- Tom and Len discuss their personal experiences of working in large mental hospitals in the NHS. These had been adapted over the years and originally termed asylums. They offer their reflections on the major shift in mental health care over the later part of the 20th century. This led to the closure of all the large former asylums in Birmingham by the turn of the 21st century.