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Aspects of Outcome in a Therapeutic Community Setting

How Patients are Seen by Themselves and Others

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

D. H. W. Kennard
Affiliation:
Littlemore Hospital, Oxford
W. R. L. Clemmey
Affiliation:
Bethlem Royal & Maudsley Hospitals, London; Littlemore Hospital, Oxford
B. M. Mandelbrote
Affiliation:
Littlemore Hospital, Oxford; University of Oxford

Summary

How patients are seen by themselves and others close to them may influence the process of re-integration in the community after discharge. In a study in a psychiatric admission unit employing a therapeutic community approach, patients who sought little or no contact with the unit after discharge saw themselves, and were seen by others, as less ‘pleasant’ but less ‘ill’ than those who continued more regular contact. Perceptions were measured with the semantic differential technique. Patients' social class and household position were found to have a marked effect on the level of contact and on its association with how patients were seen. Diagnosis did not appear to influence hospital contact.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1977 

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