Episodic rate of mental hospitalization: stable or increasing?

It is generally accepted that the national rate of mental hospitalization has been stable in recent years (at 1.8 million). That conclusion, based largely on data from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), ignores all inpatient episodes for mental disorders in general hospitals without psychiatric units. Surveying the more extensive data base, the authors previously reported a much larger number of inpatient episodes (about 3 million). This article investigates changes in rates across years and finds a steady increase from 1965 to 1979. The difference is entirely attributable to inpatient episodes in general hospitals without psychiatric units, where the number of episodes has been rapidly increasing.