Acknowledgements

The present work emerged from more than a decade of conversations, co-organising events and co-authoring articles. Much of this has taken place through the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) Psychiatry Section activities, especially at its programme on Psychiatry in Dialogue with Neuroscience Medicine and Society. The Section has been fortunate to enjoy the support of the Lambert Endowment Fund, which has enabled the invitation of distinguished overseas speakers to its events, and now has funded fully the open electronic access to this publication. We are grateful to Mr Simon Lambert FRCS for his generosity and support.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) has also played a crucial part and not only through its decisive impact on our professional formation. In recent years, we have continued our collaboration through the History of Psychiatry Special Interest Group (HoPSIG). RCPsych is investing increasingly in the history of psychiatry and we are grateful to Dr Adrian James, formerly Registrar and now President, Professor Peter Tyrer, former Editor-in-Chief, and Dr Claire Hilton, co-founding Chair of HoPSIG and now Historian in Residence at RCPsych for their initiatives and support.

Advice from our psychiatrist colleagues Baroness Elaine Murphy, Professor George Szmukler and Dr Nori Graham has served to improve both the formulation and the execution of our project, as similarly have reviews of our original proposal by the RCPsych Publications Committee referees. The chapter authors have been a pleasure to collaborate with. Professors Tom Burns, Allen Frances and Behrooz Morvaridi, Dr Paul St John Smith and Mr David Gilbert have helped with our editing. At Cambridge University Press, we have enjoyed ready availability and support. To all we extend our thanks. The result is our responsibility.