How should we theoretically understand patient voices in psychiatry? Patient voices in psychiatry refer to the inclusion of patients’ lived experiences, perspectives, and narratives in the understanding, research, and shaping of psychiatric care. This presentation focuses on the writings of psychiatric patients, including letters, diaries, and pamphlets (Nielsen et al., 2025). In recent years, there has been growing interest in patient voices within psychiatry; however, the field remains divided between particularism and institutional functionalism. Particularism examines individual patient voices in isolation, while institutional functionalism interprets them as parts of broader institutional practices (Bacopoulos-Viau et al., 2016; Condrau, 2007). The presentation draws on a research project analyzing more than 250 letters and several pamphlets written by psychiatric patients at Jydske Asyl, the first asylum in Denmark, between 1851 and 1920. The material demonstrates how the writings of psychiatric patients have evolved over time, developing shared themes and concerns. Adopting a historical perspective, the presentation argues that connecting voices from the asylum period to present-day patient voices reveals both continuities and ruptures in how patients describe their experiences (Rancière, 1995). Theoretically, the project employs a practice-oriented framework (Lave, 1991), suggesting that patient voices constitute a historical practice that has gradually challenged the hegemonic, doctor-centered view of psychiatry. This process has opened new epistemological spaces in which psychiatric patients can develop new modes of expression and new ways of engaging with psychiatric care (Rose, 2019).