Although the occurrence of medical illnesses in psychiatric patients is quite high, medical illnesses manifested by psychiatric symptoms are often overlooked. The higher mortality rates among psychiatric patients when compared to the general population may be a reflection of neglect or inadequate treatment of the psychiatric patients' medical…

To determine the extent of perceived mental health problems and the adequacy of services in a six-county area of West Virginia, a questionnaire was mailed to a sample population selected from voter registration lists, the number in the sample from each county proportionately determined by the counties' total population. The conclusion that…

To evaluate the Veterans Administration mental health services, a survey was conducted of staff opinion regarding the importance of several specific goals for these services. Goals dealing with development of patient skills necessary for self-support, elimination of psychological disorders, and protection of patients from violence received the…

Describes the operations of a clinic for the long-term psychiatric treatment of adolescents in Germany. The different types of container as opposed to contained relationships evident in the clinic structure are discussed. The metaphor of the clinic as container for the troubled youth is useful in understanding its effectiveness. (SLD)

One hundred and fifteen patients coming to a psychiatry walk-in clinic were evaluated for suicidal ideation prior to their intake interview. Sixty percent of the patients had suicidal ideation, 20% to an extreme degree. Recognition of suicidal ideation, based on a content analysis of the clinical chart, was 27% for the entire group and 56% for the…

The major burden of mental illness borne by our communities is imposed by severely mentally disordered people who become chronically deteriorated in their social functioning. Yet much of this burden is unnecessary. At least half the people currently becoming chronically deteriorated would not do so if our present knowledge was put to work. (Author)

The development of a generic national directory of bachelor's, master's, and doctoral internships for human services agencies is described. Agencies represented in the directory include community mental health centers, correctional, mental retardation, rehabilitation, and other types of facilities. Implications of the increase in the numbers of…

Drawing from a conceptual framework which hypothesizes a temporal sequence for persons who are in psychological distress, this paper focuses on two problems faced by chronically mentally ill (CMI) Hispanics in need of clinical services: (1) barriers in seeking follow-up clinical services upon discharge from a psychiatric hospital; and (2) barriers…

This article briefly reviews the literature on matrix organizational designs and discusses the ways in which the matrix design might be applied to the special features of a community mental health center. The phases of one community mental health center's experience in adopting a matrix organizational structure are described. (Author)

This study sought to develop and test a method for predicting inpatient utilization in the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene. A Markov chain mathematical model was developed and tested ex post facto for its accuracy in prediction of inpatient workload by age groups for two successive fiscal years. (Author)

The five-year growth of an active Student Mental Health Service (SMHS) in an urban academic health center is described. The function of SMHS is limited strictly to therapeutic and consultative services for the students and operates as an outpatient treatment facility using a standard 12-session goal-oriented treatment plan. (LBH)

Describes diagnostic program for children and families, designed to overcome problems involving staff shortage and imbalance. Recommends approach pending independent followup evaluation. (CJ)

Evaluated the application of Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) to client case records as a measure of treatment effectiveness and examined its correspondence to other measures of outcome. Findings were that GAS scores converged significantly with therapist ratings of global improvement and GAS scores obtained from client reports at follow-up.…