The Day Hospital Approach in Child Psychiatry

Abstract

The Day Hospital approach in adult psychiatry appears to have begun with the original conception of Cameron in Montreal. He stated (Cameron, 1958) that both the original concept and its further development sprang from growing appreciation of the possibilities of new methods of treatment and diagnosis: at this time the rapid rise of the cost of in-patient treatment took place and there was increasing realization of the importance of the treatment milieu. At the same time as Cameron was setting up his Day Hospital in Montreal, Bierer was setting up the Marlborough Day Hospital in London (Bierer, 1951) and he discussed the theory and practice of Psychiatric Day Hospitals later (Bierer, 1959). Harris (1957) also discussed the implications of Day Hospitals and Night Hospitals in psychiatry with regard to the adult patient.