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European Union government legislation affecting psychiatric practice

Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry, London SE5 8AF

Jan Neeleman, Senior Registrar

Maudsley and Bethlem Royal Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF

^* Correspondence: Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF

Although the process of psychiatric reform is taking place across Europe, national political, economic and historical factors determine to a large extent the manner and pace of its implementation as well as its final shape. The degree of centralisation of health care systems and the degree of prominence of primary care affect how efficiently change can be achieved. Various forms of professional resistance may, in different degrees in European countries, hamper the implementation of community care. The widely varying contexts in which psychiatric reform takes place throughout Europe, should provide a fertile area for future comparative research.