Sociopsychological aspects of psychiatric treatment. A report of treatment in three voluntary hospitals.

Abstract

IN THEIR STUDIES of the New Haven psychiatric patient population, Hollingshead and Redlich reported significant relationships between an individual's position in the social-class structure and the incidence of treated illness, types of diagnosed disorders, and kinds and duration of psychiatric treatment administered. 1 The influence of the economic status of the patient on the availability of treating personnel, however, was not excluded. Studies of the role of social factors in the treatment of hospitalized patients independent of their financial status and the availability of treatments were undertaken at Hillside Hospital in 1957. In this hospital, a variety of treatment modes, including individual psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, and convulsive therapies were available to all patients regardless of their ability to pay. In our surveys 2,3 we observed that patients hospitalized for the shortest periods were older, had less education, and were more often of foreign birth. These older, lesseducated patients were predominantly treated