Discusses accepted standards of care for suicidal patients from the perspectives of the law, malpractice insurance claims, the mental health professions, and the ideal. A review of decisions of professional liability provides guidelines for what the court considers to be adequate care, suggesting an acceptance of minimal standards. (JAC)

The director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) describes that agency's history, its focus, research and training programs undertaken in the 1970s, and current controversy over the role of NIMH and the federal government in mental health manpower development. (GC)

This study investigated the effectiveness of the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS) for assessing the functioning of youth with mental disorders. The CAFAS is a multidimensional tool used to record the extent to which a youth's mental health disorder is disruptive of functioning in each of five psycho-social areas: role…

The roles of direct service, training and education of physicians and nurses, direct consultation, and administrative mental health training are discussed as they relate to mental health services to Federal employees in the Washington area subject to stresses resulting from individuality loss, responsibility diffusion, frequent reorganizations,…

The philosophy, structure, and problems of an experimental program at the University of Wisconsin using an acute short-term psychiatric inpatient service are discussed with emphasis on direct student clinical responsibility. (Editor/PG)

Article describes the Cleveland State Hospital's school to teach patients the basic skills needed to have their wants satisfied, social skills and practical living skills. The program's goal is to turn patients into people who can live and be helped in the community, not an institution. (Author/PD)

The general internal medicine program at the University of Colorado has sought to emphasize the psychosocial aspects of care in its training. The performance of traditional track residents with general internal medicine resident performance was compared. (MLW)

The 54 sources of information on mental retardation that are provided cover historical aspects, causes of mental retardation, delivery of services, education for the mentally retarded, new approaches to the problem, rights of the mentally retarded, research and prevention, resources for parents of the mentally retarded, and library resources. (EJS)

Indicates that in diagnoses of mental disorders, Blacks are often diagnosed as schizophrenic, while Whites are more frequently diagnosed as being manic depressive, a less stigmatizing condition. Suggests that biases regarding socioeconomic status lead to misdiagnosis of Blacks. Stresses the need to consider socioeconomic and cultural factors in…

Reviews 10 studies in which psychiatric patients considered seriously ill were randomly assigned to either inpatient care or some alternative mode of outpatient care. Finds that in no case were the outcomes of hospitalization more positive than alternative treatment. (Author/GC)

A total of 242 university students seen in an outpatient mental health clinic were evaluated for symptom changes during treatment, using both a self report inventory and chart notations. The extent to which chart-rated overall improvement correlated with self-rated improvement on specific symptoms is analyzed. (JN)

Program involving males 7 to 18 years is described. Therapeutic concepts are discussed, emphasizing development of responsibility, honesty and routine and order in the development of self-discipline and individual identity. (RW)

Issues involved in treating adolescent drug abusers and literature describing abuser personality traits are examined. The Youth Service at Langley Porter Institute and the problems encountered and solutions attempted there are discussed. The importance of residential as opposed to outpatient treatment and honesty in staff-patient relationships is…

Ex-psychiatric clients attending a psychosocial rehabilitation center and their counselors rated the client on 18 job-related attributes and made judgments of the client's probability of employment. The best predictor of client self-ratings of employability was nervousness, while counselors focused on work skills and client's feelings of…