Economic repression and control of private psychiatric institutions under the Franco dictatorship

Similar to the process of the Aryanisation of German companies during the Nazi era, the Franco dictatorship in Spain subjected the owners and staff of private psychiatric institutions, among others, to economic repression. This study examines how the regime facilitated the transfer of ownership and management of these businesses in order to exert ideological control. Methodologically, it combines purge case files with data from the Business Registry to reconstruct changes in corporate governance. The study shows that repression took various forms, including the dispossession of business assets, the forced abandonment of businesses by those in exile, and the purging of clinical staff. This analysis makes three key contributions: it provides evidence that the repressive regime used corporate control as a punitive mechanism; it reveals how private clinics served as vehicles for political legitimisation; and it sheds light on a hitherto overlooked type of enterprise: the private psychiatric institution.