Collecting a snapshot of psychiatry in 2026

By Dr Harriet Stewart.

One hundred years ago, the Medico-Psychological Association gained a Royal Charter to become the Royal Medico-Psychological Association (becoming the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1971). To celebrate this, we would like to involve the entire membership of the Royal College in a project to celebrate the enormously varied lives of psychiatrists across the United Kingdom and around the world. Male and female, young and old, full-time and less-than full-time, we would like you all to send in something about your lives on a particular day. You could choose any day between Monday 9 - Friday 13 March 2026. This idea is based on the diary-keeping exercise of the Mass Observation Project carried out by Tom Harrisson and others during the 1930’s and 40’s.

The Mass Observation Project was started in 1937 by Charles Madge, Tom Harrisson and Humphrey Jennings. It was an attempt to create a research project to document everyday life in the period from 1937 through to the late 1950’s. All kinds of people from all classes of society, kept diaries describing their lives and the things that were important to them. There were also specific questions asked about how people spent their time and a photographer was sent out, to a thinly disguised Bolton, which was called ‘Work- town’ for the purposes of the project. There were also films made of people meeting and talking, often in the street or in pubs. The archive is now to be found at Sussex University and is open access to all. It is an invaluable resource for historians of the period.

Most importantly, the project covered the period of the Second World War and provides the unique insight into the inner lives of a population at war. Mass Observation asked people to keep diaries, to record their dreams and offer their opinions on politics, sex, art, gardening or anything that caught their interest. It represented a different way of looking at history. It was not about big events or the opinions of an elite who decided what history was. It forms a remarkable record of what a variety of people were doing on a particular day at a specific time. The diaries do not always show the indomitable ‘spirit of the Blitz’ but often reveal more personal fears of individuals, who allowed themselves to speculate on what would happen if Britain lost the war and was invaded. Across Britain, over 5000 diaries were kept, supplemented by interviews, photographic material and film from daily life. To read more about the history of mass observation check out the blog by Dr Graham Ash.

In this exercise for the Royal College archive, we hope to document the experiences of all members, including medical students, working members, those on maternity or paternity leave and retired members. You do not have to be at work to record your day. We are also soliciting entries from the College’s Patient and Carer Representatives and College staff. The idea for this came from our recognition that we only see a limited number of our membership in the Royal College publications and talks. There are a great many people working across the country and affiliated with our organisation abroad, who we would like to hear from. Please send in a diary for the day, a picture of your workplace or a selfie, a painting or a sketch. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just needs to represent your actual real thoughts or experiences on the day. You can say anything you like. We welcome criticisms and gripes with as much enthusiasm as eulogies. You can tell us about work or yourself. Whatever it is, we would love to hear it and collect your thoughts for those reading and researching in 2076 or even 2126.