of abuses such as unscientific surgical techniques such as lobotomy and the widespread neglect and abuse of vulnerable patients in the us and europe. the growing anti-psychiatry movement in the 1960s and 1970s led in italy to the first successful legislative challenge to the authority of the mental institutions, culminating in their closure. during the 1970s and 1990s the hospital population started to fall rapidly, mainly because of the deaths of long-term inmates. significant efforts were made to re-house large numbers of former residents in a variety of suitable or otherwise alternative accommodation. the first 1,000+ bed hospital to close was darenth park hospital in kent, swiftly followed by many more across the uk. the haste of these closures, driven by the conservative governments led by margaret thatcher and john major, led to considerable criticism in the press, as some individuals slipped through the net into homelessness or were discharged to poor quality private sector mini-institutions. wrongful involuntary commitment main article: political abuse of psychiatry