Recent history of European psychiatry--ideas, developments, and personalities: the annual Eliot Slater Lecture.

Erik Strömgren had planned to revise and expand his Slater lecture to a more systematic and comprehensive paper for publication. Shortly before his death, he asked for the editorial opinion of one of us (IIG), but unfortunately he did not get the opportunity to complete his lecture manuscript. We find, however, that although kaleidoscopic and impressionistic, the manuscript, as it is, contains historic and autobiographical information of high value, which deserves a posthumous publication, for availability to a broader audience. His wife, Dr. Lizzie Sand Strömgren, has kindly released the manuscript, which here appears essentially as delivered at the Slater lecture in 1986, except for a few minor textual adaptions and the addition of a list of references (by A.B.).