The multiple functions of the state mental hospital

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The multiple manifest and latent functions of the state mental hospital were identified and quantified in data collected by the [USA] National Institute of Mental Health. The data reveal a complex institution providing > 500,000 episodes of care for acute and chronic, voluntarily and involuntarily admitted inpatients and 300,000 episodes of care for the most seriously disturbed and disadvantaged outpatients. State hospitals employ > 200,000 individuals and train > 3300 professionals each year. The diversity and significance of these functions, as well as the failure of other institutions to supplant them, account for the endurance of the state mental hospital.