Until recently, the role of patient work in the history of psychiatry has been a neglected dimension. Yet, in the psychiatric institutions that emerged across the world from the late eighteenth century onwards, work and work therapy were prominent features, culminating in the rise of a specialist profession affiliated to medicine - occupational therapy. This article explores the changing meanings of work within varied medical, social, and political contexts.
Keywords: Work therapy; empowerment; history of psychiatry; moral therapy; occupational therapy; punishment.