Limitations of Brief Hospital Treatment.

A total of 175 newly admitted inpatients who lived with their families were randomly assigned to three treatment groups: standard inpatient care and brief hospitalization with and without transitional day care. Case reports of 6 of the 9 patients considered "study failures" illustrate that effective postdischarge adaptation is limited by the patients' degree of impairment as well as the family and community capacity to accept them. Although rapid return to the community is beneficial to many patients, rigid adherence to this policy is neither wise nor clinically effective.