O'Flynn suggested Maclay saw in the series a proof of his own ideas, partly based on his 1930s experiments with art and mescaline-induced psychosis. Maclay concluded that the creative ability of people with schizophrenia deteriorated. O'Flynn says that, based on examination of the work of outsider artists, the link between schizophrenia and the deterioration of artwork doesn't hold true. Looking at Wain's late work, O'Flynn sees greater experimentation and use of colour, not a deterioration. Despite the series being known to be assembled, and the pictures not dated since the 1960s, "their representation of something that doesn't exist, namely psychotic deterioration, has been surprisingly robust". The series has become "the Mona Lisa of asylum art".