Psychiatric hospitalization of children and adolescents.

Legislative funding and class action suits have impinged in many ways on the delivery of psychiatric service in Texas. In recent years, the rate of psychiatric hospitalization for youth has decreased in the public sector. Does the increased rate of child and adolescent psychiatric care in private hospitals reflect a need for this care or is it an excessive level of care? The prevalence of psychiatric disorders in youth has been determined, and planners of mental health services have this information. The heated rhetoric about whether or not these youth need to be hospitalized obscures the real issue: many children and youth do not receive the mental health care that they need, and this lack of care affects every level of intervention.