Reactions of Adolescents to Short-Term Hospitalization

The authors present their observations of adolescents hospitalized on a short-term psychiatric ward over a four-year period. Three stages of adjustment are identified in the course of hospitalization, reflecting a gradual formation and dissolution of a strong emotional attachment on the part of the adolescent patients to the ward staff. Evidence that a positive transference to staff does occur during short-term hospitalization lends support to the trend toward community-based mental health care.