Alternatives to Psychiatric Hospitalization

Two major recent reviews and a doctoral dissertation, written by scientists with no obvious axes to grind, have pointed out that every study (7 in one review, 10 in the other, and 20 in the dissertation) comparing nonhospital with in-hospital psychiatric treatment has found the former to be as good as or better1 2 3 than the latter, and usually cheaper.2 , 3 The question can, of course, be raised whether the studies were biased by the presence of large numbers of patients in the outpatient groups who were not ill enough to require hospitalization. Kiesler's review2 addresses this issue directly, since it includes . . .