Mental Patients Wanting to Stay in the Hospital

Every mental hospital has some patients who do not want to leave the hospital even when their psychiatric condition would allow them to go. This situation has been described by Downing1as follows: "Many mental patients are not motivated to leave the hospital which contains them. By prolonged hospitalization, they become so dependent on the hospital that leaving causes severe anxiety. If discharged, they act in such a way that they are returned. In many instances, they react to the possibility of discharge or release with behavior that ensures their continued restraint." This situation results in a tremendous waste of potential human resources and greatly increases the expense of hospitalization. There has been little study of the factors and attitudes which cause patients to prefer not to leave the hospital. To help alleviate this difficulty we need, as a first step, to know more