Behavior Rhythms in Mental Hospitals

Patients in a small private mental hospital behave crazily much more often on weekdays than they do on evenings or weekends. They also show disturbance on evenings and weekends, but during these periods such upsets are very likely to be normal in form. This alternating timetable does not occur in a large state hospital. The difference is accounted for by the weekday presence, in the private hospital, of professional treatment personnel and clinical trainess who are receptive to the revelation of symptoms and react with interest and tolerance. The same process that leads to disapearance of symptoms upon administering a placebo may lead to their emergence if the therapeutic regime promotes it. The finding is additional evidence that the immediate environment influences behavior once thought to be due soley to individuals' internal processes.