An Outpatient Setting for Treating Chronically Ill Psychiatric Patients

The relative neglect of the chronically ill psychiatric patient in community mental health planning emphasizes the need for new treatment methods and resources. This paper presents an eight-year experimental application of psychoanalytic principles in an outpatient clinic with a form of therapy (termed "adaptive psychotherapy") specifically designed for the treatment of the chronically ill psychiatric patient. The advantages of this clinic for the training of mental health professionals are also discussed.