[Some problems of a psychiatric care unit in a general hospital. II: Compulsory health treatments (author's transl)].

The new italian law regulating psychiatric treatments (number 180/78) does away with hospitalization for mental diseases in Psychiatric Hospitals. When required, hospitalization occurs only in Psychiatric Care Units attached to General Hospitals. Compulsory Health Treatments (T.S.O from italian "Trattamenti Sanitari Obbligatori") may be enforced whenever the patient refuses to be hospitalized although he needs hospitalization for treatment and there are no alternatives to it. The Authors report on the first seven months of experience in a Psychiatric Care Unit of a General Hospital in Florence where T.S.O. had been made available. The characteristics, places of origin, profession of the 42 patients admitted for T.S.O. have been investigated. Organizational and emotional issues arising from the enforcement of the new regulations and involving the staff are examined; the main issue being the significance of not having participated in the decision for hospitalization although having the responsibility for the patient's staying in the hospital. All these seem to have made more difficult, at least at first, to achieve a thorough psychiatric treatment, whereas it is easier to resort to a mere drug treatment. Possible solutions to ease the situation are put forward.