State Mental Hospitals: What Happens When They Close (Topics in General Psychiatry)

Is the current trend toward closing state mental hospitals desirable? What is the future likely to hold? Is there a role for state mental hospitals in the care of the mentally ill, or are such institutions obsolete? This timely study explores the pros and cons of the current movement toward closing state mental hospitals, a movement that first emerged in the 1960s and has been gathering momentum ever since. Combining sound legal analyses of Supreme Court and Federal Court decisions with authoritative insights into human factors, nationally renowned experts in economics, law, counseling, social welfare, and psychiatry marshall their expertise to debate the various knotty human and legal issues involved, including: - Patients’ rights - Practical problems of relocating displaced patients - Community readiness - Effects of closing on both the patients and hospital staff.