Bringing Lived Lives to Swift’s Asylum: a psychiatric hospital perspective

Background: Few “interventions” around suicide and stigma have reached into psychiatric institutions. Lived Lives is a science-arts approach to addressing suicide and stigma, informed by a psychobiographical and visual arts autopsy. The resulting artworks and mediated exhibition (Lived Lives), with artist, scientist and the Lived Lives families, co-curated by communities, has facilitated dialogue, response and public action around stigma-reduction, consistent with a community intervention. Recent evidence from Lived Lives moved us to consider how it may situate within a psychiatric institution, where stigma is chronically apparent.

Methods: Lived Lives manifested in St. Patrick’s University Hospital (Ireland’s oldest and largest psychiatric hospital) in November 2017. The mediated exhibition was open to the public for 4 days. Audiences included service users, policy makers, health professionals, senior hospital administrators and members of the public. Opinions and feelings were collected. The event was documented. Bereavement support was available. A Clinician and an artist provided independent evaluation.

Results: 86 participants engaged with the exhibition. 62% of participants were suicide-bereaved; 46% had experienced a mental health difficulty, and 35% had been suicidal in the past. 91% thought Lived Lives could be of benefit in the aftermath of a suicide death. Half of participants thought Lived Lives could help reduce suicidal feelings, whereas 88% thought it could benefit those with Mental Health difficulties. The emotional response was of a visceral nature, including fear, anger, sadness, disgust and anxiety. Bereavement support was occasionally called upon in a supportive capacity.

Conclusions: Lived Lives sits comfortably in discomfort, unafraid to call out the home-truths about stigma and its pervasive and pernicious impact, and with restoring identity at its core. Lived Lives can operate within a psychiatric hospital, as well as in community. The challenge is to move it forward for greater exposure and impacts in at-risk communities.