To establish the main sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of a sample of inpatients admitted at the Brief Hospitalization Psychiatry Unit from the University Hospital of Valladolid, Spain during 2005.

Descriptive study of a sample of inpatients (n=160) admitted in 2005 by means of the discharge report. Sociodemographic variables include age, sex, civil status and both socioeconomic and education levels; clinical variables include diagnosis according ICD and DSM-IV criteria, substance use, duration of admission and pharmacological treatment.

The type patient is a male between 31 and 40 years or a woman between 51 and 60 years, single, with a middle socioeconomic and education levels. Substance use is frequently found in male patients, mainly concerning several substances. Mean duration of admission was about 13 days. Women usually are diagnosed of affective disorders and men of adaptive disorders associated with substance use; schizophrenia also appears more frequently in men.

The characteristic patient admitted at the Brief Hospitalization Psychiatry Unit from the University Hospital of Valladolid, Spain in 2005 is either a male between 31 and 40 years suffering from adaptive disorders and substance use, or schizophrenia, or a woman between 51 and 60 years diagnosed of affective disorders.