The state mental hospital in transition: A review of principles

Abstract

It is proposed here that the state hospitals will, through a transitional experience, become true community-oriented treatment facilities with the full range of services associated with a comprehensive community mental health center. The state hospital will have to continue to act in the role of a chronic disease hospital. It will have to continue to care for and innovate new treatment techniques for the hard-core refractory group of patients who suffer from persistent and severe disorganization of personality and severe asocial behavior due to psychotic causes. Even here one should be careful in the use of terms like “chronic” and “intractable.” Rehabilitation programs for these patients may in fact turn out to be feasible and the state hospitals may be the research centers where these solutions are found.