Treatment Settings in Psychiatry

Abstract

SummaryNinety-eight matched pairs of patients treated respectively on first admission in a general hospital psychiatric unit or a psychiatric hospital have been followed-up for from five to eight years. The periods of treatment received in either setting remained comparable, and only 3 per cent of patients were in-patients or day patients at five years, while 14 per cent were out-patients and 20 per cent attended their family doctor. There was no evidence in these patients of a transfer of chronicity to the psychiatric hospital, but patients with longer periods of treatment were noted to change hospital from both the general hospital unit to the psychiatric hospital, and in the reverse direction.