[Psychiatric hospitalization in public wards and in private clinics. A comparative study on a population of a district of Turin from 1981 to 1988].

After the 1978 psychiatric reform law, public inpatient facilities (SPDC) and private clinics, with a higher number of available beds, coexist in the metropolitan area of Turin. Presented data, concerning the population of a specific catchment area, allow a comparison between the admissions in the two kinds of facilities. Patients hospitalized in 1981 were followed up to 1989, evaluating their contacts with the Community Mental Health Centre (SSM). A higher number of admissions in private clinics emerges, but there is no progressive increase during the considered period. The SPDC has evolved towards a sort of 'specialization' in psychotic syndromes; lengths of stay, moreover, were shorter. Public services (SPDC and SSM) seem to play a limited role in meeting the demand for psychiatric care expressed by the considered population.