Milieu and activity therapy with chronically disturbed female patients.

Abstract

1. A method of milieu therapy and vigorous physical activity was used with a group of chronically disturbed female patients who had been unresponsive to other therapies: EST, tranquilizers, psychosurgery, group therapy and OT. 2. Seventy-eight patients (some hospitalized up to 37 years) were studied for a period up to 30 months between September 1945 and March 1957. 3. Clinically, there has been obvious improvement: 14 per cent have returned home; 13 per cent live in less supervised hospital areas; another 45 per cent can comfortably engage in common social activities; 97 per cent show decreased destructiveness or negativism. 4. The daily use of both male and female authority figures presents a healthy milieu for therapy. 5. The opportunity for, and the presentation of, adequate interpersonal relationships again is demonstrated as being of prime and vital importance in the treatment of mental disorder.