[From psychiatric hospital to residential home for younger psychiatric patients. A cross-over study of residents in Sundbygaard in Copenhagen]].

Along with the implementation of community psychiatry, an increasing number of younger psychiatric patients live in social institutions, with psychiatric treatment offered on a consultation basis. On the basis of hospital records and interviews with staff members, the study describes two groups of patients in a former psychiatric nursing hospital, group 1 offered time-limited stay with the aim of social rehabilitation, and group 2 offered permanent stay. Patients of group 1 were younger and more frequently treated with atypical antipsychotics. Apart from this, no differences were found. The vast majority of both groups suffered from schizophrenia. The intensity of symptoms was high, despite extensive medication. The two groups might represent the same category of the most severely disabled patients, seen at different ages. More intensive psychiatric consultant service is found necessary, and the process of rehabilitation should be evaluated prospectively.