Treatment, care, and rehabilitation of the chronic mentally ill in the U.S.S.R.

The U.S.S.R. has established a graduated, differentiated system of psychiatric care based on psychoneurological dispensaries--a type of outpatient clinic--that are linked to mental hospitals or regular district (general) hospitals. Treatment is based on a system of active, ongoing study and follow-up care that permits timely intervention when the patient's condition or circumstances warrant it. Under the dispensary system no more than 8 percent of patients receiving psychiatric care are hospitalized at any one time. Programs of partial hospitalization, including sheltered workshops, day hospitals, and night hospitals, also are heavily used. Significant numbers of schizophrenic and other psychotic patients are being effectively treated in the day hospitals.