Institute of Psychiatry

It’s a short leisurely walk to the Institute of Psychiatry, a world leader in research into the treatment of mental illness. It’s here that we get the chance to hear about the drug Largactyl in a bit more depth. Fellow walkers are encouraged to share their knowledge and we are lucky enough have Peter Nicol, a former psychiatric nurse, in our midst. Nicol describes how the drug Largactyl was prescribed routinely. “When I first started working in psychiatric hospitals in the 1950s, we used to give Largactyl to patients, which produced the unfortunate side-effect of a shuffling walk,” he says.