Forty years after Law 180

In this contribution, the aim is to provide an overview of the change of perspective underlying mental health services in the decades following the psychiatric reform; it is therefore a synthesis of how the paradigm shift is the result of a broader epistemological change. In order to contextualize this process, the theme is how the "deinstitutionalisation" has declined both in Italy and in several European countries, describing the transition from a "hospital model" to a "care model". The theoretical approach underlying this change was then analyzed, and it was further investigated how this change promoted a new multidisciplinary approach (Caldas de Almeida, Mateus, & Tomè, 2015). To recapitulate this topic, the following were examined: a historical overview of the events related to Law 180, an excursus concerning the change of theoretical perspective at the root of this historical passage and finally some examples of new contemporary practices.