Deinstitutionalization of the Chronically Mentally Ill

Abstract

Deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill has become the predominant public mental-health policy in most states. This policy has been supported by a curious political marriage of liberals, who decry the custodial-level care in state mental hospitals, and conservatives, who see the closing of expensive public institutions as an easy way to save tax dollars. Deinstitutionalization has been effected by discharging long-term inpatients from state hospitals and making it increasingly difficult to admit new patients. Over the past decade, it has resulted in the shift of the primary locus of clinical care in the public sector from traditional inpatient settings to . . .