Organizing madness: Reflections on the forms of the form

This paper investigates the form, as a modern and unprecedented textual device, which embodies a certain combination of writing and space, poses certain imperative questions, and generates 'information' from the answers given. It offers a theoretical reflection on what kind of text the form is, and a possible history of how the form has been invented. It also offers an analysis of how one particular form, a Needs Assessment Schedule used in mental health care, embodies the complexities of this history, and poses ambiguities and opacities for professionals and clients using the form, or interacting with it. It also attempts an understanding at this micro-level of analysis of how larger entities, such as organizations, are constituted out of particular practices